
Class 
Book. 



AN 



APPEAL 



IN FAVOR OF THAT CLASS 



OF 



AMERICANS CALLED AFRICANS 



By Mrs. x CHILD, 

AUTHOR OF THK MOTHER'S BOOK, THE GIRL'S OWN BOOK, 
THE FRUGAL HOUSEWIFE, ETC. 



" We have offended, Oh ! my countrymen ! 
We have offended very grievously, 
And been most tyrannous. From east to west 
A groan of accusation pierces Heaven ! 
The wretched plead against us ; multitudes, 
Countless and vehement, the sons of God, 
Our brethren ! 

Coleridge. 



NEW-YORK : 
PUBLISHED BY JOHN S. TAYLOR 

1836. 






Copy-right secured according to law. 



TO 

THE REV. S. J. MAY, 

OF BROOKLYN, CONNECTICUT, 

THIS VOLUME 

is 

MOST K ESPECTFUL-LY INSCRIBED, 
AS A MARK OF CRATITUPE. 

FOR HIS EARNEST AND DISINTERESTED EFFORTS 

IN 
AN UNPOPULAR BUT MOST RIGHTEOUS CAUSE. 



PREFACE 



Reader, I beseech you not to throw down this vol- 
ume as soon as you have glanced at the title. Read 
it, if your prejudices will allow, for the very truth's 
sake : — If I have the most trifling claims upon your 
good will, for an hour's amusement to yourself, or 
benefit to your children, read it for my sake : — Read 
it, if it be merely to find fresh occasion to sneer at the 
vulgarity of the cause : — Read it, from sheer curiosity 
to see what a woman (who had much better attend 
to her household concerns) will say upon such a sub- 
ject : — Read it, on any terms, and my purpose will 
be gained. 

The subject I have chosen admits of no encomiums 
on my country ; but as I generally make it an object 
to supply what is most needed, this circumstance is 
unimportant ; the market is so glutted with flattery, 
that a little truth may be acceptable, were it only for 
its rarity. 

I am fully aware of the unpopularity of the task I 
have undertaken; but though I expect ridicule and 
censure, it is not in my nature to fear them. 

A few years hence, the opinion of the world will be 
a matter in which I have not even the most transient 
interest ; but this book will be abroad on its mission 
of humanity, long after the hand that wrote it is min- 
gling with the dust. 

Should it be the means of advancing, even one sin- 
gle hour, the inevitable progress of truth and justice, 
I would not exchange the consciousness for all Roth- 
child's wealth, or Sir Walter's fame. 



INDEX 



Page 


Page. 
Gholson, Mr . . . 102 


Mams, John, .... 


109 


Adams, J. Quincy, 


109 


Grecian Slavery, . . 47, 53, 54, 56 


Africa benighted by Slavery, 


9 


Happiness of Slaves, . . . 140 


African Repository, Extracts 




Hayne, Mr \(t'\ 


from, . . . 123, 133 


,137 


Hayti, . . ■ . . 86, 121 


African Individuals of distinc- 




Hebrews, . . . 48,52,55 


tion, . . . .157 tc 


167 


Helots, 47 


Amalgamation. . . . 132 


200 


Humanity of masters, how far a 


Ancient and Modern Slavery com- 




protection, .... 72 


pared, 


38 


Indian treatment of Slaves, . 46 


Anti-Slavery Society, . 


142 


Inequality of laws for offences, . 60 


Appleton, Mr 


78 


Insurrections, .... 194 


Baptism supposed to confer free- 




Intellect of Africans, . . 151,170 


dom, 


58 


Internal slave-trade, . . .33 


Bible opposed to slavery, 


32 


Interest to treat slaves well, . 30 


Blood-hounds, .... 


27. 


Jefferson, Thomas, . . .22 


Brown, Moses, .... 


98 


Kenrick, John, . . . .215 


Brodnax, Mr. .... 


79 


Kidnapping, . . . 34, 65 


Capt. Riley, 


73 


Labor compulsory and uncompen- 


Charles 5th, refused to sanction 




sated, 41 


the slave-trade, 


8 


Lafayette 97 


Child follows the condition of its 




Laws regulating labor, . 43, 44 


mother, 


40 


Laws obstruct emancipation, . 54 


Christianity abolished slavery, . 


58 


Laws to perpetuate ignorance, 59, 67, 70 


Clay, Henry, .... 77 


136 


Laws against Free Colored Peo- 


Clothing of Slaves, 


44 


ple, 63 


Code Noir, . . . .46, 49, 54 


Louis 13th, 8 


Colonization, .... 


123 


Marriages, laws concerning, . 196 


Cruelties to Slaves, . 17, 24, 26, 28 


Martineau, Harriet, . . .83 


Devonshire, Duchess of, 


215 


Masters have absolute power to 


Democracy of the North, 


112 


punish, 49 


District of Columbia, . 


216 


Miller, Gov. of S. Carolina, . 103 


Duelling 


113 


Missouri Question, . . . 120 


Dymond, Jonathan, 


147 


Moral Character of Africans, . 177 


Eastern and Western Virginia, . 


119 


Moss, Mary and Helen, . . 24 


Effect of Slavery on the Masters, 


22 


New-England kept in check by 


Egyptians, 


149 


jealousy of the Slave States, 114 


Elizabeth of England tolerated 




North and South, . . .3! 


the trade, .... 


8 


Ohio and Kentucky, . . . 86 




87 


Offences punished in Slaves, . 61 


English formerly sold to Irish, . 


58 


Park, Mungo, .... 1-77 


Entailed upon us by England, 


75 


Pauperism, comparative in West 


Ethiopians 


149 


Indies, 90 




176 


Petitions, 216 


Evidence of colored persons not 




Pinckney, Charles, . . . 103 


admitted, . . . 45,48 


Political power of Slave States, . Ill 


Faulkner, Mr 


79 


Portuguese, ... 7, 48, 54 




23 


Prejudice against color almost un- 


Fierceness and pride induced bv 




known in other countries, 135, 208 


Slavery, . . . . 


113 


Prejudice cherished bv Coloniza- 


Food of Slaves, .... 


44 


tion 133 


French planter's ideas of religion 




Prejudice, instances of, . 198 to 209 


for Slaves, .... 


58 


Quakers, 213 


Free Labor 


76 


Relisious privileges of Slaves, . 57 


Garrison, Mr. .... 


209 


Roane, Mr 139 


Gentoo Code, .... 


52 


Roman Slaves, . . 47,54,56 



VI 



INDEX. 



Runaways, . 
Sectional dislike, 
Slave Trade, beginning of, 
Slave Ship, description of, 
Slave Trade, cruelties of, 



Page 
62,71 
. 121 
7 
. 12 
17 



Slave Trade defended in House 

of Commons, .... 19 
Slave Trade sanctioned by Con- 
stitution of the United States 
for twenty years, . . .36 
Sla\ e cut in pieces, ... 26 
Slave Codes, different degrees of 

mildness, . . . .39 
Slavery, hereditary and perpetual,- 42 
Slaves cannot own property, 46, 71 
Slaves considered as chattels, . 45 
Slaves in Africa, 48 

Slaves never allowed to resist, . 52 
Slaves in U S. cannot redeem 

themselves, . . 53 



Page 
Slaves unprotected in domestic 

relations, .... 54 
Slave Representation, . . 105 

Slavery veiled in the Constitution, 106 
Son, who murdered his father to 

obtain freedom, ... 23 
Southerners do not desire the abo- 
lition of Slavery, . . .100 
Southerner, conversation with, . 133 
Spanish Slaves, . . 7,48,54,56 
St. Domingo, .... 86 

Sutcliff's Travels, ... 81 
Toussaint L'Ouverture, • . 16ft 

Turkey, 5ft 

Union, 119 

Washington's Slaves, ... 96 
Washington had doubts, . .107 

Wirt. William 102 

Wrigh*, Gov. of Maryland, . . ICft 
Zhinga, 154 



AN APPEAL, &o. 



CHAPTER I. 

BRIEF HISTORY OF NEGRO SLAVERY.— ITS INEVITABLE EFFECT 
UPON ALL CONCERNED IN IT. 



The lot is wretched, the condition sad, 

Whether a pining discontent survive, 

And thirst for change ; or habit hath subdued 

The soul depressed; dejected — even to love 

Of her dull tasks and close captivity. Wobdswoeth 

My ear is pained, 
My soul is sick with every day's report 
Of wrong and outrage, with which this earth is filled. 
There is no flesh in man's obdurate heart, 
It does not feel for man. Cowper. 



While the Portuguese were exploring Africa, in 1442, 
Prince Henry ordered Anthony Gonsalez to carry back 
certain Moorish prisoners, whom he had seized two years 
before near Cape Bajador : this order was obeyed, and 
Gonsalez received from the Moors, in exchange for the 
captives, ten negroes, and a quantity of gold dust. Un- 
luckily, this wicked speculation proved profitable, and other 
Portuguese were induced to embark in it. 

In 1492, the West India islands were discovered by Co- 
lumbus. The Spaniards, dazzled with the acquisition of a 
new world and eager to come into possession of their 
wealth, compelled the natives of Iiispaniola to dig in the 
mines. The native Indians died rapidly, in consequence of 
hard work and cruel treatment ; and thus a new market 
. was opened for the negro slaves captured by the Portuguese. 
They were accordingly introduced as early as 1503. Those 
who bought and those who sold were alike prepared to 
trample on the rights of their fellow-beings, by that most 
demoralizing of all influences, the accursed love of gold. 

Cardinal Ximenes, while he administered the government* 
before the accession of Charles the Fifth, was petitioned to 



8 BRIEF HISTORY 

allow a regular commerce in African negroes. But he re- 
jected the proposal with promptitude and firmness, alike 
honorable to his head and heart. This earliest friend of the 
Africans, living in a comparatively unenlightened age, has 
peculiar claims upon our gratitude and reverence. In 1517, 
Charles the Fifth granted a patent for an annual supply of 
four thousand negroes to the Spanish islands. He proba- 
bly soon became aware of the horrible and ever-increasing 
evils, attendant upon this traffic ; for twenty-five years after 
he emancipated every negro in his dominions. But when 
he resigned his crown and retired to a monastery, the colo- 
nists resumed their shameless tyranny. 

Captain Hawkins, afterward Sir John Hawkins, was the 
first Englishman, who disgraced himself and his country 
by this abominable trade. Assisted by some rich people in 
London, he fitted out three ships, and sailed to the African 
coast, where he burned and plundered the towns, and car- 
ried off three hundred of the defenceless inhabitants to His- 
paniola. 

Elizabeth afterwards authorized a similar adventure with 
one of her own vessels. " She expressed her concern lest 
any of the Africans should be carried off without their free 
consent; declaring that such a thing would be detestable, 
and call down the vengeance of Heaven upon the under- 
takers." For this reason, it has been supposed that the 
queen was deceived — that she imagined the negroes were 
transported to the Spanish colonies as voluntary laborers. 
But history gives us slight reasons to judge Elizabeth so 
favorably. It was her system always to preserve an ap- 
pearance of justice and virtue. She was a shrewd, far- 
sighted politician ; and had in perfection the clear head and 
cold heart calculated to form that character. Whatever 
she might believe of the trade at its beginning, she was too 
deeply read in human nature, not to foresee the inevitable 
consequence of placing power in the hands of avarice. 

A Roman priest persuaded Louis the Thirteenth to sanc- 
tion slavery for the sake of converting the negroes to Chris- 
tianity ; and thus this bloody iniquity, disguised with gown, 
hood, and rosary, entered the fair dominions of France. 
To be violently wrested from his home, and condemned to 
toil without hope, by Christians, to whom he had done no 
wrong, was, methinks, a very odd beginning to the poor 
negro's course of religious instruction ! 



OF NEGRO SLAVERY. 51 

When this evil had once begun, it, of course, gathered 
strength rapidly ; for all the bad passions of human nature 
were eagerly enlisted in its cause. The British formed 
settlements in North America, and in the West Indies ; and 
these were stocked with slaves. From 1680 to 1786, two 
million, one hundred and thirty thousand negroes were im- 
ported into the British colonies ! 

In almost all great evils there is some redeeming feature 
— some good results, even where it is not intended : pride 
and vanity, utterly selfish and wrong in themselves, often 
throw money into the hands of the poor, and thus tend to 
excite industry and igenuity, while they produce comfort. 
But slavery is all evil — within and without — root and branch, 
— bud, blossom and fruit ! 

In order to show how dark it is in every aspect — how in- 
variably injurious both to nations and individuals, — I will 
select a few facts from the mass of evidence now before me. 

In the first place, its effects upon Africa have been most 
diastrous. All along the coast, intercouse with Europeans 
has deprived the inhabitants of their primitive simplicity, 
without substituting in its place the order, refinement, and 
correctness of principle, attendant upon true civilization. 
The soil of Africa is rich in native productions, and hon- 
orable commerce might have been a blessing to her, to Eu- 
rope, and to America; but instead of that, a trade has been 
substituted, which operates like a withering curse, upon all 
concerned in it. 

There are green and sheltered valleys in Africa, — broad 
and beautiful rivers, — and vegetation in its loveliest and most 
magnificent forms. — But no comfortable houses, no thriving 
farms, no cultivated gardens ; — for it is not safe to possess 
permanent property, where each little state is surrounded by 
warlike neighbors, continually sending out their armed bands 
in search of slaves. The white man offers his most tempt- 
ing articles of merchandise to the negro, as a price for the 
flesh and blood of his enemy; and if we, with all our 
boasted knowledge and religion, are seduced by money to 
do such grievous wrong to those who have never offended 
us, what can we expect of men just emerging from the lim- 
ited wants of savage life, too uncivilized to have formed any 
habits of steady industry, yet earnestly coveting the pro- 
ductions they know not how to earn ! The inevitable conse- 
quence is, that war is made throughout that unhappy conti- 



10 THE EFFECT OF SLAVERY. 

nent, not only upon the slightest pretences, but often without 
any pretext at all. Villages are set on fire, and those who 
fly from the flames, rush upon the spears of the enemy 
Private kidnapping is likewise carried on to a great extent 7 
for he who can catch a neighbor's child is sure to find a 
ready purchaser ; and it sometimes happens that the captor 
and his living merchandise are both seized by the white 
slave-trader. Houses are broken open in the night, and de- 
fenceless women and children carried away into captivity. 
If boys, in the unsuspecting innocence of youth, come near 
the white man's ships, to sell vegetables or fruit, they are 
ruthlessly seized and carried to slavery in a distant land. 
Even the laws are perverted to this shameful purpose. If 
a chief wants European commodities, he accuses a parent 
of witchcraft ; the victim is tried by the ordeal of poisoned 
water ;* and if he sicken at the draught, the king claims a 
right to punish him by selling his whole family. In African 
legislation, almost all crimes are punished with slavery ; an<? 
thanks to the white man's rapacity, there is always a very 
powerful motive for finding the culprit guilty. He must b« 
a very good king indeed, that judges his subjects impartially, 
when he is sure of making money by doing otherwise ! 

The king of Dahomy, and other despotic princes, do net 
scruple to seize their own people and sell them, without prov 
ocation, whenever they happen to want anything, which 
slave-ships can furnish. If a chief has conscience enough 
to object to such proceedings, he is excited by presents of 
gunpowder and brandy. One of these men, who could no' 
resist the persuasions of the slave-traders while he was in 
toxicated, was conscience-stricken when he recovered hir 
senses, and bitterly reproached his Christian seducers. One 
negro king, debarred by his religion from the use of spirit 
uous liquors, and therefore less dangerously tempted thai' 
others, abolished the slave-trade throughout his dominions 
and exerted himself to encourage honest industry ; but hi? 
people must have been as sheep among wolves. 

Relentless bigotry brings its aid to darken the horrors of 
the scene. The Mohammedans deem it right to subject the 
heathen tribes to perpetual bondage. The Moors and Arabr 
think Alia and the prophet have given them an undisputed 

* Judicial trials by the ordeal of personal combat, in which the van 
quishef' were always pronounced guilty, occurred as late as thesixteentl 
Century, Doth in France and England. 



ON ALL CONCERNED IN IT. li 

right to the poor CafFre, his wife, his children, and his goods. 
But mark how the slave-traae deepens even the fearful gloom 
of bigotry ! These Mohammedans are by no means zealous 
to enlighten their Pagan neighbors — they do not wish them 
to come to a knowledge of what they consider the true re- 
ligion — lest they should forfeit the only ground, on which 
they can even pretend to the right of driving them by thou- 
sands to the markets of Kano and Tripoli. 

This is precisely like our own conduct. We say the ne- 
groes are so ignorant that they must be slaves ; and we insist 
upon keeping them ignorant, lest we spoil them for slaves. 
The same spirit that dictates tins logic to the Arab, teaches 
it to the European and the American : — Call it what you 
please — it is certainly neither of heaven nor of earth. 

When the slave-ships are lying on the coast of Africa, 
canoes well armed are sent into the inland country, and 
after a few weeks they return with hundreds of negroes, tied 
fast with ropes. Sometimes the white men lurk among 
the bushes, and seize the wretched beings who incautiously 
venture from their homes ; sometimes they paint their skins 
as black as their hearts, and by this deception suddenly sur- 
prise the unsuspecting natives ; at other times the victims 
are decoyed on board the vessel, under some kind pretence 
or other, and then lashed to the mast, or chained in the hold. 
Is it not very natural for the Africans to say " devilish white ?" 

All along the shores of this devoted country, terror and 
distrust prevail. The natives never venture out without 
arms, when a vessel is in sight, and skulk through their 
own fields, as if watched by a panther. All their worst 
passions are called into full exercise, and all their kindlier 
feelings smothered. Treachery, fraud and violence deso- 
late the country, rend asunder the dearest relations, and 
pollute the very fountains of justice. The history of the 
negro, whether national or domestic, is written in blood. 
Had half the skill and strength employed in the slave-trade 
been engaged in honorable commerce, the native princes 
would long ago have directed their energies towards clear- 
ing the country, destroying wild beasts, and introducing the 
arts and refinements of civilized life. Under such influ- 
ences, Africa might become an earthly paradise ; — the white 
man's avarice has made it a den of wolves. 

Having thus glanced at the miserable effects of this sys- 
tern on the condition of Africa, we will now follow the poor 



12 THE EFFECT OF SLAVERY. 

slave through his wretched wanderings, in order to give 
some idea of his physical suffering, his mental and moral 
degradation. 

Husbands are torn from their wives, children from theii 
parents, while the air is filled with the shrieks and lamen- 
tations of the bereaved. Sometimes they are brought from 
a remote country ; obliged to wander over mountains and 
through deserts ; chained together in herds ; driven by the 
whip ; scorched by a tropical sun ; compelled to carry heavy 
hales of merchandise ; suffering with hunger and thirst ; 
worn down with fatigue ; and often leaving their bones to 
whiten in the desert. A large troop of slaves, taken by the 
Sultan of Fezzan, died in the desert for want of food. In 
some places, travellers meet with fifty or sixty skeletons in 
a day, of which the largest proportion were no doubt slaves, 
on their way to European markets. Sometimes the poor 
creatures refuse to go a step further, and even the lacerating 
whip cannot goad them on ; in such cases, they become the 
prey of wild beasts, more merciful than white men. 

Those who arrive at the seacoast, are in a state of despe- 
ration and despair. Their purchasers are so well aware 
of this, and so fearful of the consequences, that they set 
sail in the night, lest the negroes should know when they 
depart from their native shores. 

And here the scene becomes almost two harrowing to 
dwell upon. But we must not allow our nerves to be more 
tender than our consciences. The poor wretches are stowed 
by hundreds, like bales of goods, between the low decks, 
where filth and putrid air produce disease, madness and sui- 
cide. Unless they die in great numbers, the slave-captain 
does not even concern himself enough to fret ; his live stock 
cost nothing, and he is sure of such a high price for what 
remains at the end of the voyage, that he can afford to lose 
a good many. 

The following account is given by Dr. Walsh, who ac- 
companied Viscount Strangford, as chaplain, on his embassy 
to Brazil. The vessel in which he sailed chased a slave-ship ; 
for to the honor of England be it said, she has asked and 
obtained permission from other governments, to treat as pi- 
rates such of their subjects as are discovered carrying on 
this guilty trade north of the equator. Doctor Walsh was 
an eyewitness of the scene he describes ; and the evidence 
given, at various times, before the British House of Com- 



ON ALL CONCERNED IN IT- 13 

mons, proves that the frightful picture is by no means exag- 
gerated. 

" The vessel had taken in, on the coast of Africa, three 
hundred and thirty-six males, and two hundred and twenty- 
six females, making in all five hundred and sixty-two ; she 
had been out seventeen days, during which she had thrown 
overboard fifty-five. They were all inclosed under grated 
hatchways, between decks. The space was so low, and they 
were stowed so close together, that there was no possibility 
of lying down, or changing their position, night or day. 
The greater part of them were shut out from light and 
air ; and this when the thermometer, exposed to the open 
sky, was standing, in the shade on our deck, a: eighty-nine 
degrees, 

"The space between decks was divided into two compart- 
ments, three feet three inches high. Two hundred and 
twenty-six women and girls were thrust into one space two 
hundred and eighty-eight feet square ; and three hundred 
and thirty-six men and boys were crammed into another 
space eight hundred feet square ; giving the whole an aver- 
age of twenty-three inches ; and to each of the women not 
more than thirteen inches ; though several of them were in 
a state of health, which peculiarly demanded pity. — As they 
were shipped on account of different individuals, they were 
branded like sheep, with the owner's maiks of different 
forms ; which, as the mate informed me with perfect indif- 
ference, had been burnt in with red-hot iron. Over the 
hatchway stood a ferocious looking fellow, the slave-driver 
of the ship, with a scourge of many-twisted thongs in his 
hand ; whenever he heard the slightest noise from below, he 
shook it over them, and seemed eager to exercise it. 

" As soon as the poor creatures saw us looking down at 
them, their melancholy visages brightened up. They per- 
ceived something of sympathy and kindness in our looks, 
to which they had not been accustomed ; and feeling in- 
stinctively that we were friends, they immediately began to 
shout and clap their hands. The women were particularly 
excited. They all held up their arms, and when we bent 
down and shook hands with them, they could not contain 
their delight ; they endeavored to scramble upon their knees, 
stretching up to kiss our hands, and we understood they 
knew we had come to liberate them. Some, however, hung 
down their heads in apparently hopeless dejection : some 

2 



14 THE EFFECT OF SLAVERY 

were greatly emaciated ; and some, particularly children, 
seemed dying. The heat of these horrid places was so 
great, and the odor so offensive, that it was quite impossible 
to enter them, even had there been room. 

The officers insisted that the poor, suffering creatures, 
should be admitted on deck to get air and water. This 
was opposed by the mate of the slaver, who (from a feeling 
that they deserved it,) declared they should be all mur- 
dered. The officers, however, persisted, and the poor beings 
were all turned out together. It is impossible to conceive 
the effect of this eruption — five hundred and seventeen fel- 
low-creatures, of all ages and sexes, some children, some 
adults, some old men and women, all entirely destitute of 
clothing, scrambling out together to taste the luxury of a little 
fresh air and water. They came swarming up, like bees 
from a hive, till the whole deck was crowded to suffocation 
from stem to stern ; so that it was impossible to imagine- 
where they could all have come from, or how they could 
have been stowed away. On looking into the places where 
they had been crammed, there were found some children next 
the sides of the ship, in the places most remote from light 
and air ; they were lying nearly in a torpid state, after the 
rest had turned out. The little creatures seemed indifferent 
as to life or death ; and when they were carried on deck, 
many of them could not stand. After enjoying for a short 
time the unusual luxury of air, some water was brought ; 
it was then that the extent of their sufferings was exposed 
in a fearful manner. They all rushed like maniacs towards 
it. No entreaties, or threats, or blows, could restrain them ; 
they shrieked, and struggled, and fought with one another, 
for a drop of this precious liquid, as if they grew rabid at 
the sight of it. There is nothing from which slaves in the 
mid-passage suffer so much as want of water. It is some- 
times usual to take out casks filled with sea-water as bal- 
last, and when the slaves are received on board, to start the 
casks, and re-fill them with fresh. On one occasion, a ship 
from Bahia neglected to change the contents of their casks, 
and on the mid-passage found to their horror, that they were 
filled with nothing but salt water. All the slaves on board 
perished! We could judge of the extent of their sufferings 
from the afflicting sight we now saw. When the poor crea- 
tures were ordered down again, several of them came, and 
pressed their heads against our kness, with looks of the 



ON ALL CONCERNED IN IT. 15 

greatest anguish, with the prospect of returning to the hor 
rid place of suffering below." 

Alas ! the slave-captain proved by his papers that he con- 
fined his traffic strictly to the south of the Line, where it was 
yet lawful ; perhaps his papers were forged ; but the Eng- 
lish officers were afraid to violate an article of the treaty, 
which their government had made with Brazil. Thus does 
cunning wickedness defeat benevolence and justice in this 
world ! Dr. Walsh continues : " With infinite regret, there- 
fore, we were obliged to restore his papers to the captain, 
and permit him to proceed, after nine hours' detention and 
close investigation. It was dark when we separated, and the 
last parting sounds we heard from the unhallowed ship, were 
the cries and shrieks of the slaves, suffering under some 
bodily infliction." 

I suppose the English officers acted politically right ; but 
not for the world's wealth, would I have acted politically 
right, under such circumstances ! * 

Arrived at the place of destination, the condition of the 
slave is scarcely less deplorable. They are advertised with 
cattle ; chained in droves, and driven to market with a whip ; 
and sold at auction, with the beasts of the field. They are 
treated like brutes, and all the influences around them con 
spire to make them brutes. 

" Some are employed as domestic slaves, when and how 
the owner pleases ; by day or by night, on Sunday or other 
days, in any measure or degree, with any remuneration or 
with none, with what kind or quantity of food the owner of 
the human beast may choose. Male or female, young or 
old, weak or strong, may be punished with or without rea- 
son, as caprice or passion may prompt. When the drudge 
does not suit, he may be sold for some inferior purpose, like 
a horse that has seen his best days, till like a worn-out beast 
he dies, unpitied and forgotten ! Kept in ignorance of the 
holy precepts and divine consolations of Christianity, he 
remains a Pagan in a Christian land, without even an object 

* Dr. Walsh's book on Brazil was published in IS31. He says; 
"Notwithstanding the benevolent and persevering exertions of England, 
this horrid traffic in human flesh is nearly as extensively carried on as 
ever, and under circumstances perhaps of a more revolting character. 
The very shifts at evasion, the necessity for concealment, and the despe- 
rate hazard, cause inconvenience and sufferings to the poor creatures in 
a very aggravated degree." 



16 THE EFFECT OF SLAVERY 

of idolatrous worship — i having no hope, and without God 
in the world.' " 

From the moment the slave is kidnapped, to the last 
hour he draws his miserable breath, the white man's influ- 
ence directly cherishes ignorance, fraud, treachery, theft, 
licentiousness, revenge, hatred and murder. It cannot be 
denied that human nature thus operated upon, must neces- 
sarily yield, more or less, to all these evils. — And thus do 
we dare to treat beings, who, like ourselves, are heirs of 
immortality ! 

And now let us briefly inquire into the influence of sla- 
very on the white man's character ; for in this evil there 
is a mighty re-action. " Such is the constitution of things, 
that we cannot inflict an injury without suffering from it 
ourselves: he who blesses another, benefits himself; but 
he who sins against his fellow-creature, does his own soul 
a grievous wrong." The effect produced upon slave-cap- 
tains is absolutely frightful. Those who wish to realize it 
in all its awful extent, may find abundant information in 
Clarkson's History of Slavery : the authenticity of the facts 
there given cannot be doubted ; for setting aside the perfect 
honesty of Clarkson's character, these facts were principally 
accepted as evidence before the British Parliament, where 
there was a very stong party of slave-owners desirous to 
prove them false. 

Indeed when we reflect upon the subject, it cannot excite 
surprise that slave-captains become as hard-hearted and 
fierce as tigers. The very first step in their business is a 
deliberate invasion of the rights of others ; its pursuit com- 
bines every form of violence, bloodshed, tyranny and an- 
guish ; they are accustomed to consider their victims as 
cattle, or blocks of wood ;* and they are invested with per- 
fectly despotic powers. 

There is a great waste of life among white seamen em- 
ployed in this traffic, in consequnce of the severe punish- 
ment they receive, and diseases originating in the unwhole- 

* I have read letters from slave-captains to their employers, in which 
they declare that they shipped such a number of billets of %obod, or pieces 
of ebony, on the coast of Africa. 

Near the office of the Richmond Inquirer in Virginia, an auction flag 
was hoisted one day this last winter, with the following curious adver- 
tisement : " On Monday the 11th inst., will be sold in front of the High 
Constable's office, one bright mulatto woman, about twenty-six years of 
age; also, some empty barrels, and sundry old candle-boxes. 



ON ALL CONCERNED IN IT. 27 

some atmosphere on board. Clarkson, after a long and 
patient investigation, came to the conclusion that two slavo 
voyages to Africa, would destroy more seamen than eighty- 
three to Newfoundland ; and there is this difference to Lb- 
observed, that the loss in one trade is generally occasioned 
by weather or accident, in the other by cruelty or disease. 
The instances are exceedingly numerous of sailors on board 
slave-ships, that have died under the lash, or in consequence 
of it. Some of the particulars are so painful that it has 
made me sicken to read them ; and I therefore forbear to 
repeat them. Of the Alexander's crew, in 1785, no less 
than eleven deserted at Bonny, on the African coast, because 
life had become insupportable. They chose all that could 
be endured from a most inhospitable climate, and the violence 
of the natives, rather than remain in their own ship. Nine 
others died on the voyage, and the rest were exceedingly 
abused. This state of things was so universal that seamen 
were notoriously averse to enter the hateful business. In 
order to obtain them it became necessary to resort to force 
or deception. (Behold how many branches there are to the 
tree of crime !) Decoyed to houses where night after night 
was spent in dancing, rioting and drunkenness, the thought- 
less fellows gave themselves up to the merriment of the 
scene, and in a moment of intoxication the fatal bargain was 
sealed. Encouraged to spend more than they owned, a jail 
or the slave-ship became the only alternatives. The supe- 
riority of wages was likewise a strong inducement ; but this 
was a cheat. The wages of the sailors were half paid in 
the currency of the country where the vessel carried her 
slaves ; and thus they were actually lower than in other 
trades, while they were nominally higher. 

In such an employment the morals of the seamen of course 
became corrupt, like their masters ; and every species of 
fraud was thought allowable to deceive the ignorant Afri- 
cans, by means of false weights, false measures, adulterated 
commodities, and the like. 

Of the cruelties on board slave-ships, I will mention but 
a few instances ; though a large volume might be filled with 
such detestable anecdotes perfectly well authenticated. 

" A child on board a slave-ship, of about ten months old, 
took sulk and would not eat ; the captain flogged it with a 
cat-o'-nine-tails ; swearing that he would make it eat, or kill 
it. From this, and other ill-treatment, the limbs swelled. 

2* 



18 THE EFFECT OF SLAVERY 

He then ordered some water to be made hot to abate the 
swelling. But even his tender mercies were cruel. The 
cook, on putting his hand into the water, said it was too hot. 
Upon this the captain swore at him, and ordered the icei to 
be put in. This was done. The nails and skin crane off. 
Oiled cloths were then put around them. The child was at 
length tied to a heavy log. Two or three days afterwards, 
the captain aught it up again, and repeated that he would 
make it eat. o: kill it. He immediately flogged it again, and 
in a quarter of an hour it died. And after the babe was 
dead, whom should the barbarian select to throw it over- 
board, but the wretched mother ! In vain she tried to avoid 
the office. He beat her, till he made her take up the child 
and carry it to the side of the vessel. She then dropped it 
into the sea, turning her head the other way, that she might 
not see it."* 

" In 1780, a slave-trader, detained by contrary winds on 
the American coast, and in distress, selected one hundred 
and thirty-two of his sick slaves, and threw them into the 
sea, tied together in pairs, that they might not escape by 
swimming. He hoped the Insurance Company would in- 
demnify him for his loss; aid in the law-suit, to which this 
gave birth, he observed that ' negroes cannot be considered 
in any other light than as beasts of burden ; and to lighten a 
vessel it is permitted to throw overboard its least valuable 
effects. ' 

"Some of the unhappy slaves escaped from those who 
attempted to tie them, and jumped into the sea. One of 
them was saved by means of a cord thrown by the sailors 
of another vessel ; and the monster who murdered his in- 
nocent companions had the audacity to claim him as his prop- 
erty. The Judges, either from shame, or a sense of justice, 
refused his demand. "f 

Some people speculate in what are called refuse slaves ; 
i. e. the poor diseased ones. Many of them die in the piaz- 
zas of the auctioneers; and sometimes, in the agonies of 
death, they are sold as low as a dollar. 

Even this is better than to be unprotected on the wide 
ocean, in the power of such wild beasts as I have described. 
It may seem incredible to some that human nature is capable 

* Clarkson's History of the Abolition of the Slave Trade. 
| The Ahhe Gregoire's Inquiry into the Intellect and Morals of Ne- 
groes. 



ON ALL CONCERNED IN IT. 19 

of so much depravity. But the confessions of pirates show 
how habitual scenes of blood and violence harden the heart 
of man; and history abundantly proves that despotic power 
produces a fearful species of moral insanity. The wanton 
cruelties of Nero, Caligula, Domitian, and many of the offi- 
cers of the Inquisition, seem like the frantic acts of madmen. 

The public has, however, a sense of justice, which can 
never be entirely perverted. Since the time when Clark- 
son, Wilberforce and Fox made the horrors of the slave- 
trade understood, the slave-captain, or slave-jockey, is spon- 
taneously and almost universally regarded with dislike and 
horror. Even in the slaveholding states it is deemed dis- 
reputable to associate with a professed slave-trader, though 
few perhaps would think it any harm to bargain with him. 
Tin's public feeling makes itself felt so strongly, that men 
engaged in what is called the African traffic, kept it a se- 
cret, if they could, even before the laws made it hazardous. 

No man of the least principle could for a moment think of 
engaging in such enterprises ; and if he have any feeling, 
it is soon destroyed by familiarity with scenes of guilt and 
anguish. The result is, that the slave-trade is a monopoly 
in the hands of the very wicked ; and this is one reason 
why it has always been profitable. 

Yet even the slave-trade has had it champions — of course 
among those who had money invested in it. Politicians have 
boldly said that it was a profitable branch of commerce, and 
ought not to be discontinued on account of the idle dreams 
of benevolent enthusiasts. They have argued before the 
House of Commons, that others would enslave the negroes, 
if the English gave it up — as if it were allowable for one 
man to commit a crime because another was likely to do it ! 
They tell how merciful it is to bring the Africans away from 
the despotism and wars, which desolate their own continent ; 
but they do not add that the white man is himself the cause 
of those wars, nor do they prove our right to judge for an- 
other man where he will be the happiest, If the Turks, or 
the Algerines saw fit to exercise this right, they might carry 
away captive all the occupants of our prisons an,d peniten- 
tiaries. 

Some of the advocates of this traffic maintained that the 
voyage from Africa to the slave-market, called the Middle 
Passage, was an exceedingly comfortable portion of exist- 
ence. One went so far as to declare it " the happiest part 



20 THE EFFECT OF SLAVERY 

of a negro's life." They aver that the Africans, on their 
way to slavery, are so merry, that they dance and sing. 
But upon a careful examination of witnesses, it was found 
that their singing consisted of dirge-like lamentations for 
their native land. One of the captains threatened to flog 
a woman, because the mournfulness of her song was too 
painful to him. After meals they jumped up in their irons 
for exercise. This was considered so necessary for their 
health, that they were whipped, if they refused to do it. 
And this was their dancing! "I," said one of the witnesses, 
" was employed to dance the men, while another person 
danced the women." 

These pretences, ridiculous as they appear, are worth 
about as much as any of the arguments that can be brought 
forward in defence of any part of the slave system. 

The engraving on the next page will help to give a vivid 
idea of the Elysium enjoyed by negroes, during the Middle 
Passage. Fig. A represents the iron hand-cuffs, which 
fasten the slaves together by means of a little bolt with a 
padlock. 

B represents the iron shackles by which the ancle of one 
is made fast to the ancle of his next companion. Yet even 
thus secured, they do often jump into the sea, and wave 
their hands in triumph at the approach of death. E is a 
thumb-screw. The thumbs are put into two rounds holes 
at the top ; by turning a key a bar rises from C to D by 
means of a screw ; and the pressure becomes very painful. 
By turning it further, the blood is made to start ; and by 
taking away the key, as at E, the tortured person is left in 
agony, without the means of helping himself, or being helped 
by others. This is applied in case of obstinacy, at the dis- 
cretion of the captain. I, F, is a speculum oris. The dot- 
ted lines represent it when shut ; the black lines when open. 
It opens at G, H, by a screw below with a knob at the end 
of it. This instrument was used by surgeons to wrench open 
the mouth in case of lock-jaw. It is used in slave-ships to 
compel the negroes to take food ; because a loss to the own- 
ers would follow their persevering attempts to die. K repre- 
sents the manner of stowing in a slave-ship. 

According to Clarkson's estimate, about two and a half out 
of a hundred of human beings die annually, in the ordinary 
course of nature, including infants and the aged ; but in an 
African vovage. where few babes and no old people arc 



ON ALL CONCERNED IN IT. 



21 





7 T Tf r Tfi!^ 



22 THE EFFECT OF SLAVERS' 

admitted, so that those shipped are at the firmest period of life, 
the annual mortality is forty-three in a hundred. In vessels 
that sail from Bonny, Benin, and the Calabars, whence a 
large proportion of slaves are brought, this mortality is so 
much increased by various causes, that eighty-six in a hun- 
dred die yearly. Pie adds, " It is a destruction, which if 
general but for ten years, would depopulate the world, and 
extinguish the human race." 

We next come to the influence of this diabolical system 
on the slave-owner ; and here I shall be cautioned that I 
am treading on delicate ground, because our own country- 
men are slaveholders. But I am yet to learn that wick- 
edness is any the better for being our own. Let the truth 
be s; oken — and let those abide its presence who can. 

The following is the testimony of Jefferson, who had good 
opportunities for observation, and who certainly had no 
New-England prejudices: "There must, doubtless, be an 
unhappy influence on the manners of the people, produced 
by the existence of slavery among us. The whole com- 
merce between master ancl slave is a perpetual exercise of 
the most boisterous passions ; the most unremitting despotism 
on the one part, and degrading submission on the other. 
Our children see this and learn to imitate it ; for man is an 
imitative animal. The parent storms; the child looks on, 
catches the lineaments of wrath, puts on the same airs in a 
circle of smaller slaves, gives loose to the worst of passions ; 
and thus nursed, educated, and daily exercised in tyranny, 
cannot but be stamped by it with odious peculiarities. The 
man must be a prodigy, who can retain his morals and man- 
ners undepraved in such circumstances." 

In a community where all the labor is done by one class 
there must of course be another class who live in indolence; 
and we all know how much people that have nothing to do 
are tempted by what the world calls pleasures ; the result 
is, that slaveholding states and colonics are proverbial for 
dissipation. Hence, too, the contempt for industry, which 
prevails in such a state of society. — Where none work but 
slaves, usefulness becomes degradation. The wife of a 
respectable mechanic, who accompanied her husband from 
Massachusetts to the South, gave great offence to her new 
neighbors by performing her usual household avocations ; 
they begged her to desist from it, (offering the services of 
their own blacks,) because the sight of a white person en- 



ON ALL CONCERNED IN IT. 23 

gaged in any labor was extremely injurious to the slaves ; 
they deemed it very important that the negroes should be 
taught, both by precept and example, that they alone were 
made to work ! 

Whether the undue importance attached to merely ex- 
ternal gentility, and the increasing tendency to indolence and 
extravagance throughout this country, ought to be attrib- 
uted, in any degree, to the same source, I am unable to say ; 
if any influence comes to us from the example and ridicule of 
the slaveholding states, it certainly must be of this nature. 

There is another view of this system, which I cannot un- 
veil so completely as it ought to be. I shall be called bold 
for saying so much ; but the facts are so important, that it 
is a matter of consience not to be fastidious. 

The negro woman is unprotected either by law or public 
opinion. She is the property of her master, and her 
daughters are his property. They are allowed to have no 
conscientious scruples, no sense of shame, no regard for the 
feelings of husband, or parent ; they must be entirely sub- 
servient to the will of their owner, on pain of being whipped 
as near unto death as will comport with his interest, or quite 
to death, if it suit his pleasure. 

Those who know human nature would be able to conjec- 
ture the unavoidable result, even if it were not betrayed by 
the amount of mixed population. Think for a moment, what 
a degrading effect must be produced on the morals of both 
blacks and whites by customs like these ! 

Considering we live in the nineteenth century, it is indeed 
a strange state of society where the father sells his child, 
and the brother puts his sister up at auction ! Yet these 
things are often practised in our republic. 

Doctor Walsh, in his account of Brazil, tells an anecdote 

of one of these fathers, who love their offspring at market 

price. " For many years," says he, " this man kept his son 

in slavery, and maintained the right to dispose of him, as he 

would of his mule. Being ill, however, and near to die, he 

made his will, left his child his freedom, and apprised him of 

it. Some time after he recovered, and having a dispute 

• i i . 

with the young man, he threatened to sell him with the rest 

of his stock. The son, determined to prevent this, assas- 
sinated his father in a wood, got possession of the will, de- 
manded his freedom, and obtained it. This circumstance 
was perfectly well known in the neighborhood, but no pro- 



24 THE EFFECT OF SLAVERY 

cess was instituted against liim. fie was not chargeable, as 
I could hear, with any other delinquency than the horrible 
one of murdering his father to obtain his freedom." This 
forms a fine picture of the effects of slavery upon human 
relations !* 

I have more than once heard people, who had just re- 
turned f>-om the South, speak of seeing a number of mulat- 
toes in attendance where they visited, whose resemblance to 
the head of the family was too striking not to be immediately 
observed. What sort of feeling must be excited in the 
minds of those slaves by being constantly exposed to the 
tyranny or caprice of their own brothers and sisters, and by 
the knowledge that these near relations, will on a division of 
the estate, have power to sell them off with the cattle ? 

But the vices of white men eventually provide a scourge 
for themselves. They increase the negro race, but the 
negro can never increase theirs ; and this is one great rea- 
son why the proportion of colored population is always so 
large in slaveholding countries. As the ratio increases 
more and more every year, the colored people must event- 
ually be the stronger party ; and when this result happens, 
slavery must either be abolished, or government must furnish 
troops, of whose wages the free states must pay their pro- 
portion. 

As a proof of the effects of slavery on the temper, I will 
relate but very few anecdotes. 

The first happened in the Bahamas. It is extracted from 
a despatch of Mr. Huskisson to the governor of those isl- 
ands : " Henry and Helen Moss have been found guilty of 
a misdemeanor, for their cruelty to their slave Kate ; and 
those facts of the case, which seem beyond dispute, appear 
to be as follows : 

" Kate was a domestic slave, and is stated to have been 
guilty of theft : she is also accused of disobedience, in re- 
fusing to mend her clothes and do her work ; and this was 
the more immediate cause of her punishment. On the 
twenty-second of July, eighteen hundred and twenty-six, 
she was confined in the stocks, and she was not released till 
the eighth of August following, being a period of seventeen 

* A short time ago a reverend and very benevolent gentleman sug- 
gested as the subject of a book, The Beauty of Human Relations, — 
What a bitter jest it would be, to send him this voiume, with the in- 
formation that I had complied with his request! 



ON ALL CONCERNED IN IT. 25 

days. The stocks were so constructed that she could not 
sit up or lie down at pleasure, and she remained in them 
night and day. During this period she was flogged repeat- 
edly, one of the overseers thinks about six times ; and red 
pepper was rubbed upon her eyes to prevent her sleeping. 
Tasks were given her, which, in the opinion of the same 
overseer, she was incapable of performing; sometimes be- 
cause they were beyond her powers, at other times because 
she could not. see to do them, on account of the pepper having 
been rubbed on her eyes ; and she was flogged for failing to 
accomplish these tasks. A violent distemper had prevailed on 
the plantation during the summer. It is in evidence, that on 
one of the days of Kate's confinement, she complained of fe- 
ver; and that one of the floggings she received was the day 
after she made the complaint. When she was taken out of 
the stocks, she appeared to be cramped, and was then again 
flogged. The very day of her release, she was sent to field 
labor, (though heretofore a house-servant;) and on the even- 
ing of the third day ensuing was brought before her owners, 
as being ill, and refusing to work ; and she then again com 
plained of having fever. They were of opinion that she 
had none then, but gave directions to the driver, if she 
should be ill, to bring her to them for medicines in the morn- 
ing. The driver took her to the negro-house, and again 
flogged her ; though at this time apparently without orders 
from her owners to do so. In the morning at seven o'clock 
she was taken to work in the field, where she died at noon. 

" The facts of the case are thus far incontrovertibly es- 
tablished ; and I deeply lament, that, heinous as the offences 
are which this narrative exhibits, I can discover no material 
palliation of them amongst the other circumstances detailed 
in the evidence." 

A bill of indictment for murder was preferred against Mr. 
and Mrs. Moss : the grand jury threw it out. Upon two other 
bills, for misdemeanors, a verdict of guilty was returned. Five 
months' imprisonment, and a fine of three hundred pounds, 
was the only punishment for this deliberate and shocking 
cruelty ! 

In the next chapter, it will be seen that similar misde- 
meanors are committed with equal impunity in this country. 

I do not know how much odium Mr. and Mrs. Moss 
generally incurred in consequence of this transaction ; but 
many of " the most respectable people in the island peti- 

3 



26 THE EFFECT OF SLAVERY 

tioned for a mitigation of their punishment, visited them in 
prison, did every thing to identify themselves with them, and 
on their liberation from jail, gave them a public dinner as a 
matter of triumph !" The witnesses in their favor even 
went so far as to insist that their character stood high for 
humanity among the neighboring planters. 

I believe there never was a class of people on earth so 
determined to uphold each other, at all events, as slave- 
owners. 

The following account was originally written by the Rev. 
William Dickey, of Bloomingsburgh, to the Rev. John Ran- 
kin, of Ripley, Ohio. It was published in 1826, in a little 
volume of letters, on the subject of slavery, by the Rev. 
Mr. Rankin, who assures us that Mr. Dickey was well 
acquainted with the circumstances he describes. 

" In the county of Livingston, Kentucky, near the mouth 
of Cumberland river, lived Lilburn Lewis, the son of Jef- 
erson's sister. He was the wealthy owner of a considerable 
number of slaves, whom he drove constantly, fed sparingly, 
and lashed severely. The consequence was, they would 
run away. Among the rest was an ill -grown boy, about 
seventeen, who, having just returned from a skulking spell, 
was sent to the spring for water, and, in returning, let fall 
an elegant pitcher, which dashed to shivers on the rocks. 
It was night, and the slaves were all at home. The mas- 
ter had them collected into the most roomy negro-house, 
and a rousing fire made." (Reader, what follows is very 
shocking ; but I have already said we must not allow our 
nerves to be more sensitive than our consciences. If such 
things are done in our country, it is important that we should 
know of them, and seriously reflect upon them.) "The door 
was fastened, that none of the negroes, either through fear 
or sympathy, should attempt to escape ; he then told them 
that the design of this meeting was to teach them to remain 
at home and obey his orders. All things being now in train, 
George was called up, and by the assistance of his younger 
brother, laid on a broad bench or block. The master then 
cut off his ancles with a broad axe. In vain the unhappy 
victim screamed. Not a hand among so many dared to 
interfere. Having cast the feet into the fire, he lectured 
the negroes at some length. He then proceeded to cut off 
his limbs below the knees. The sufferer besought him to 
begin with his head. It was in vain — the master went on 



ON ALI, CONCERNED IN IT. Tt 

thus, until trunk, arms, and head, were all in the fire. Still 
protracting the intervals with lectures, and threatenings of 
like punishment, in case any of them were disobedient, or 
ran away, or disclosed the tragedy they were compelled to 
witness. In order to consume the bones, the fire was briskly 
stirred until midnight : when, as if heaven and earth com- 
bined to show their detestation of the deed, a sudden shock 
of earthquake threw down the heavy wall, composed of rock 
and clay, extinguished the fire, and covered the remains of 
George. The negroes were allowed to disperse, with charges 
to keep the secret, under the penalty of like punishment. 
When his wife asked the cause of the dreadful screams she 
had heard, he said that he had never enjoyed himself so well 
at a ball as he had enjoyed himself that evening. Next 
morning, he ordered the wall to be rebuilt, and he himself 
superintended, picking up the remains of the boy, and placing 
them within the new wall, thus hoping to conceal the mat- 
ter. But some of the negroes whispered the horrid deed ; 
the neighbors tore down the wall, and finding the remains, 
they testified against him. He was bound over to await the 
sitting of the court ; but before that period arrived, he com- 
mitted suicide." 

" N. B. This happened in 1811 ; if I be correct, it was on 
the 16th of December. It was on the Sabbath." 

Mr. Rankin adds, there was little probability that Mr. 
Lewis would have fallen under the sentence of the law. 
Notwithstanding the peculiar enormity of his offenco, there 
were individuals who combined to let him out of prison, in 
order to screen him from justice. 

Another instance of summary punishment inflicted on a 
runaway slave, is told by a respectable gentleman from South 
Carolina, with whom I am acquainted. He was young, 
when the circumstance occurred, in the neighborhood of his 
home ; and it filled him with horror. A slave being missing, 
several planters united in a negro hunt, as it is called. They 
set out with dogs, guns, and horses, as they would to chase 
a tiger. The poor fellow, being discovered, took refuge in 
a tree ; where he was deliberately shot by his pursuers. 

In some of the West Indies, blood-hounds are employed to 
hunt negroes ; and this fact is the foundation of one of the 
most painfully interesting scenes in Miss Martineau's Deme- 
rara. A writer by the name of Dallas has the hardihood to 
assert that it is mere sophistry to censure the practice of 



28 THE EFFECT OF SLAVERY 

training dogs to devour men. He asks, " Did not the Asi- 
atics employ elephants in war ? If a man were bitten by a 
mad dog, would he hesitate to cut off the wounded part in 
order to save his life ?" 

It is said that when the first pack of blood-hounds arrived 
in St. Domingo, the white planters delivered to them the first 
negro they found, merely by way of experiment : and when 
they saw him immediately torn in pieces, they were highly 
delighted to find the dogs so well trained to their business. 

Some authentic records of female cruelty would seem per- 
fectly incredible, were it not an established law of our nature 
that tyranny becomes a habit, and scenes of suffering, often 
repeated, render the heart callous. 

'A young friend of mine, remarkable for the kindness of 
his disposition and the courtesy of his manners, told me that 
he was really alarmed at the change produced in his char- 
acter by a few months' residence in the West Indies. The 
family who owned the plantation were absent, and he saw 
nothing around him but slaves ; the consequence was that 
he insensibly acquired a dictatorial manner, and habitual 
disregard to the convenience of his inferiors. The candid 
admonition of a friend made him aware of this, and his nat- 
ural amiability was restored. 

The ladies who remove from the free States into the slave- 
holding ones almost invariably write that the sight of slavery 
was at first exceedingly painful ; but that they soon become 
habituated to it ; and, after awhile, they are very apt to 
vindicate the system, upon the ground that it is extremely 
convenient to have such submissive servants. This reason 
was actually given by a lady of my acquaintance, who is 
considered an unusually fervent Christian. Yet Christianity 
expressly teaches us to love our neighbor as ourselves. 
This shows how dangerous it is, for even the best of us, to 
become accustomed to what is wrong. 

A judicious and benevolent friend lately told me the story 
of one of her relatives, who married a slave-owner, and re- 
moved to his plantation. The lady in question was consid- 
ered very amiable, and had a serene, affectionate expression 
of countenance. After several years' residence among her 
slaves, she visited New-England. " Her history was written 
in her face," said my friend ; " its expression had changed 
into that of a fiend. She brought but few slaves with her ; 
and those few were of course compelled to perform additional 



ON ALL CONCERNED IN IT. 29 

labor. One faithful negro- woman nursed the twins of her 
mistress, and did all the washing, ironing, and scouring. 
If, after a sleepless night with the restless babes, (driven from 
the bosom of their own mother,) she performed her toilsome 
avocations with diminished activity, her mistress, with her 
own lady-like hands, applied the cowskin, and the neigh- 
borhood resounded with the cries of her victim. The in- 
strument of punishment was actually kept hanging in the 
entry, to the no small disgust of her New-England visiters. 
For my part," continued my friend, " I did not try to be 
polite to her ; for I was not hypocrite enough to conceal my 
indignation." 

The following occurred near Natchez, and was told to me 
by a highly intelligent man, who, being a diplomatist and a 
courtier, was very likely to make the best of national evils: 
A planter had occasion to send a female slave some distance 
on an errand. She did not return so soon as he expected, 
and he grew angry. At last he gave orders that she should 
be severely whipped when she came back. When the poor 
creature arrived, she pleaded for mercy, saying she had 
been so very ill, that she was obliged to rest in the fields ; 
but she was ordered to receive another dozen lashes, for hav- 
ing had the impudence to speak. She died at the whipping- 
post ; nor did she perish alone — a new-born baby died with 
her. The gentleman who told me this fact, witnessed the 
poor creature's funeral. It is true, the master was univer- 
sally blamed and shunned for the cruel deed ; but the laws 
were powerless. 

I shall be told that such examples as these are of rare 
occurrence ; and I have no doubt that instances of excessive 
severity are far from being common. I believe that a large 
proportion of masters^are as kind to their slaves as they can 
be, consistently with keeping them in bondage ; but it must 
be allowed that this, to make the best of it, is very stinted 
kindness. And let it never be forgotten that the negro's 
fate depends entirely on the character of his master ; and it 
is a mere matter of chance whether he fall into merciful or 
unmerciful hands ; his happiness, nay, his very life, depends 
on chance. 

The slave-owners are always telling us, that the accounts 
of slave miseiy are abominably exaggerated ; and their plea 
is supported by many individuals, who seem to think that 
charity was made to cover sins, not to cure them. But 

3* 



30 THE EFFECT OF SLAVERY 

without listening to the zealous opposers of slavery, we shall 
find in the judicial reports of the Southern States, and in the 
ordinary details of their newspapers, more than enough to 
startle us ; besides, we must not forget that where one in- 
stance of cruelty comes to our knowledge, hundreds are 
kept secret ; and the more public attention is awakened to 
the subject, the more caution will be used in this respect. 

Why should we be deceived by the sophistry of those 
whose interest it is to gloss over iniquity, and who from long 
habit have learned to believe that it is no iniquity ? It is 
a very simple process to judge rightly in this matter. Just 
ask yourself the question where you could find a set of men, 
in whose power you would be willing to place yourself, if 
the laws allowed them to sin against you with impunity ? 

But k is urged that it is the interest of planters to treat their 
slaves well. This argument no doubt has some force ; and 
it is the poor negro's only security. But it is likewise the 
interest of men to treat their cattle kindly ; yet we see that 
passion and short-sighted avarice do overcome the strongest 
motives of interest. Cattle are beat unmercifully, sometimes 
unto death ; they are ruined by being over-worked ; weak- 
ened by want of sufficient food ; and so forth. Besides, it 
is sometimes directly for the interest of the planter to work 
his slaves beyond their strength. When there is a sudden 
rise in the prices of sugar, a certain amount of labor in a 
given time is of more consequence to the owner of a planta- 
tion than the price of several slaves ; he can well afford to 
waste a few lives. This is no idle hypothesis — such calcu- 
lations are gravely and openly made by planters. Hence, 
it is the slave's prayer that sugars may be cheap. When 
the negro is old, or feeble from incurable disease, is it his 
master's interest to feed him well, and clothe him comforta- 
bly? Certainly not : it then becomes desirable to get rid 
of the human brute as soon as convenient. It is a common 
remark, that it is not quite safe, in most cases, for even pa- 
rents to be entirely dependant on the generosity of their chil- 
dren ; and if human nature be such, what has the slave to 
expect, when he becomes a mere bill of expense ? 

It is a common retort to say that New-Englanders who 
go to the South, soon learn to patronize the system they 
have considered so abominable, and often become proverbial 
for their severity. I have not the least doubt of the fact ; 
for slavery contaminates all that comes within its influence. 



ON ALL CONCERNED IN IT. 31 

It would be very absurd to imagine that the inhabitants of one 
State are worse than the inhabitants of another, unless some 
peculiar circumstances, of universal influence, tend to make 
them so. Human nature is every where the same ; but de- 
veloped differently, by different incitements and temptations. 
It is the business of wise legislation to discover what influ- 
ences are most productive of good, and the least conducive 
to evil. If we were educated at the South, we should no 
doubt vindicate slavery, and inherit as a birthright all the 
evils it engrafts upon the character. If they lived on our 
rocky soil, and under our inclement skies, their shrewdness 
would sometimes border upon knavery, and their frugality 
sometimes degenerate into parsimony. We both have our 
virtues and our faults, induced by the influences under which 
we live, and, of course, totally different in their character. 
Our defects are bad enough ; but they cannot, like slavery, 
affect the destiny and rights of millions. 

All this mutual recrimination about horse-jockeys, gam- 
blers, tin-pedlers, and venders of wooden-nutmegs, is quite 
unworthy of a great nation. Instead of calmly examining 
this important subject on the plain grounds of justice and 
humanity, we allow it to degenerate into a mere question of 
sectional pride and vanity. [Pardon the Americanism, would 
we had less use for the word !] It is the system, not the men, 
on which we ought to bestow the full measure of abhorrence. 
If we were willing to forget ourselves, and could like true 
republicans, prefer the common good to all other considera- 
tions, there would not be a slave in the United States, at the 
end of half a century. 

The arguments in support of slavery are all hollow and 
deceptive, though frequently very specious. No one thinks 
of finding a foundation for the system in the principles of 
truth and justice ; and the unavoidable result is, that even 
in 'policy it is unsound. The monstrous fabric rests on the 
mere appearance of present expediency ; while, in fact, all 
its tendencies, individual and national, present and remote, 
are highly injurious to the true interests of the country. The 
slave-owner will not believe this. The stronger the evidence 
against his favorite theories, the more strenuously he defends 
them. It has been wisely said, " Honesty is the best policy ; 
but policy without honesty never finds that out." 

I hope none will be so literal as to suppose I intend to say 
that no planter can be honest, in the common acceptation of 



32 THE EFFECT OF SLAVERY 

that term. I simply mean that all who ground their argu- 
ments in policy, and not in duty and plain truth, are really 
blind to the highest and best interests of man. 

Among other apologies for slavery, it has been asserted 
that the Bible does not forbid it. Neither does it forbid the 
counterfeiting of a bank-bill. It is the spirit of the Holy 
Word, not its particular expressions, which must be a rule 
for our conduct. How can slavery be reconciled with the 
maxim, " Do unto others, as ye would that others should do 
unto you ?" Does not the command, " Thou shalt not steal" 
prohibit kidnapping? And how does whipping men to death 
agree with the injunction, " Thou shalt do no murder V Are 
we not told " to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the 
heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free, and to break 
every yoke ?" ft was a Jewish law that he who stole a man, 
or sold him, or he in whose hands the stolen man was found, 
should suffer death ; and he in whose house a fugitive slave 
sought an asylum was forbidden to give him up to his master. 
Modern slavery is so unlike Hebrew servitude, and its regu- 
lations are so diametrically opposed to the rules of the Gos- 
pel, which came to bring deliverance to the captive, that it 
is idle to dwell upon this point. The advocates of this system 
seek for arguments in the history of every age and nation ; 
but the fact is, negro-slavery is totally different from any 
other form of bondage that ever existed ; and if it were not 
so, are we to copy the evils of bad governments and be- 
nighted ages? 

The difficulty of subduing slavery, on account of the great 
number of interests which become united in it, and the pro- 
digious strength of the selfish passions enlisted in its support, 
is by no means its least alarming feature. This Hydra has 
ten thousand heads, every one of which will bite or growl, 
when the broad daylight of truth lays opon the secrets of 
its hideous den. 

I shall perhaps be asked why I have said so much about 
the slave-trade, since it was long ago abolished in this coun- 
try ? There are several good reasons for it. In the first 
place, it is a part of the system ; for if there were no slaves, 
there could be no slave-trade ; and while there are slaves, 
the slave-trade will continue. In the next place, the trade 
is still briskly carried on in Africa, and slaves are smuggled 
into these States through the Spanish colonies. In the third 
place, a very extensive internal slave-trade is carried on in 



ON ALL CONCERNED IN IT. 33 

this country. The breeding of negro-cattle for the foreign 
markets, (of Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama, Arkansas, and 
Missouri,) is a very lucrative branch of business. Whole 
coffles of them, chained and manacled, are driven through 
our Capital on their way to auction. Foreigners, particu- 
larly those who come here with enthusiastic ideas of Amer- 
ican freedom, are amazed and disgusted at the sight.* A 
troop of slaves once passed through Washington on the fourth 
of July, while drums were beating, and standards flying. 
One of the captive negroes raised his hand, loaded with irons, 
and waving it toward the starry flag, sung with a smile of 
bitter irony, " Hail Columbia ! happy land !" 

In the summer of 1822, a coffle of slaves, driven through 
Kentucky, was met by the Rev. James II. Dickey, just be- 
fore it entered Paris. He describes it thus : " About forty 
black men were chained together ; each of them was hand- 
cuffed, and they were arranged rank and file. A chain, 
perhaps forty feet long, was stretched between the two 
ranks, to which short chains were joined, t connected with 
the hand-cuffs. Behind them were about thirty women, 
tied hand to hand. Every countenance wore a solemn sad- 
ness; and the dismal silence of despair was only broken by 
the sound of two violins. Yes — as if to add insult to injury, 
the foremost couple were furnished with a violin a-piece ; 
the second couple were ornamented with cockades ; while 
near the centre our national standard was carried by hands 
literally in chains. I may have mistaken some of the punc- 
tilios of the arrangement, for my very soul was sick. My 
landlady was sister to the man who owned the drove ; and 
from her I learned that he had, a few days previous, bought 
a negro- woman, who refused to go with him. A blow on 
the side of her head with the butt of his whip, soon brought 
her to the ground ; he then tied her, and carried her off. 
Besides those I saw, about thirty negroes, destined for the 
New-Orleans market, were shut up in the Paris jail, for safe- 
keeping. 

But Washington is the great emporium of the internal 
slave-trade ! The United States jail is a perfect storehouse 
for slave merchants ; and some of the taverns may be seen 
so crowded with negro captives that they have scarcely 
room to stretch themselves on the floor to sleep. Judge 

* See the second volume of Stuart's " Three years in North America." 
Instead of being angry at such truths, it would be wise to profit by them. 



34 THE EFFECT OF SLAVERY 

Morrel, in his charge to the grand jury at Washington, in 
1816, earnestly called their attention to this subject. He 
said, " the frequency with which the streets of the city had 
been crowded with manacled captives, sometimes even on 
the Sabbath, could not fail to shock the feelings of all hu- 
mane persons ; that it was repugnant to the spirit of our 
political institutions, and the rights of man ; and he believed- 
it was calculated to impair the public morals, by familiar- 
izing scenes of cruelty to the minds of youth." 

A free man of color is in constant danger of being seized 
and carried off by these slave-dealers. Mr. Cooper, a Rep- 
resentative in Congress from Delaware, told Dr. Torrey, of 
Philadelphia, that he was often afraid to send his servants 
out in the evening, lest they should be encountered by kid- 
nappers. Wherever these notorious slave-jockeys appear 
in our Southern States, the free people of color hide them- 
selves, as they are obliged to do on the coast of Africa. 

The following is the testimony of Dr. Torrey, of Philadel- 
phia, published in 1817 : 

" To enumerate all the horrid and aggravating instances 
of man-stealing, which are known to have occurred in the 
State of Delaware, within the recollection of many of the 
citizens of that State, would require a volume. In many 
cases, whole families of free colored people have been at- 
tacked in the night, beaten nearly to death with clubs, gagged 
and bound, and dragged into distant and hopeless captivity, 
leaving no traces behind, except the blood from their wounds. 
" During the last winter, the house of a free black family 
was broken open, and its defenceless inhabitants treated in 
the manner just mentioned, except, that the mother escaped 
from their merciless grasp, while on their way to the State 
of Maryland. The plunderers, of whom there were nearly 
half a dozen, conveyed their prey upon horses ; and the 
woman being placed on one of the horses, behind, improved 
an opportunity, as they were passing a house, and sprang 
off. Not daring to pursue her, they proceeded on, leaving 
her youngest child a little farther along, by the side of the 
road, in expectation, it is supposed, that its cries would at- 
tract the mother ; but she prudently waited until morning, 
and recovered it again in safety. 

" I consider myself more fully warranted in particular- 
izing this fact, from the circumstances of having been at 
Newcastle, at the time that the woman was brought with 



ON ALL CONCERNED IN IT. 35 

her child, before the grand jury, for examination ; and of 
having seen several of the persons against whom bills of in- 
dictment were found, on the charge of being engaged in the 
perpetration of the outrage ; and also that one or two of 
them were the same who were accused of assisting in seiz- 
ing and carrying off another woman and child whom I dis- 
covered at Washington. A monster in human shape, was 
detected in the city of Philadelphia, pursuing the occupation 
of courting and marrying mulatto women, and selling them as 
slaves. In his last attempt of this kind, the fact having come 
to the knowledge of the African population of this city, a 
mob was immediately collected, and he was only saved from 
being torn in atoms, by being deposited in the city prison. 
They have lately invented a method of attaining their object, 
through the instrumentality of the laws : — Having selected 
a suitable free colored person, to make a pitch upon, the 
kidnapper employs a confederate, to ascertain the distin- 
guishing marks of his body ; he then claims and obtains him 
as a slave, before a magistrate, by describing those marks, 
and proving the truth of his assertions, by his well-instructed 
accomplice. 

" From the best information that I have had opportuni- 
ties to collect, in travelling by various routes through the 
States of Delaware and Maryland, I am fully convinced that 
there are, at this time, within the jurisdiction of the United 
States, several thousands of legally free people of color, 
toiling under the yoke of involuntary servitude, and trans- 
mitting the same fate to their posterity ! If the probability 
of this fact could be authenticated to the recognition of the 
Congress of the United States, it is presumed that its members, 
as agents of the constitution, and guardians of the public 
liberty, would, without hesitation, devise means for the res- 
toration of those unhappy victims of violence and avarice, to 
their freedom and constitutional personal rights. The work, 
both from its nature and magnitude, is impracticable to in- 
dividuals, or benevolent societies ; besides, it is perfectly a 
national business, and claims national interference, equally 
with the captivity of our sailors in Algiers." 

It may indeed be said, in palliation of the internal slave- 
trade, that the horrors of the middle passage are avoided. 
But still the amount of misery is very great. Husbands and 
wives, parents and children, are rudely torn from each other ; 
— there can be no doubt of this fact : advertisements are 



3b THE EFFECT OF SLAVERY 

very common, in which a mother and her children are of 
fered either in a lot, or separately, as may suit the purchaser. 
In one of these advertisements, I observed it stated that the 
youngest child was about a year old.* 

The captives are driven by the whip, through toilsome 
journeys, under a burning sun ; their limbs fettered ; with 
nothing before them but the prospect of toil more severe 
than that to which they have been accustomed. f 

The disgrace of such scenes in the capital of our republic 
cannot be otherwise than painful to every patriotic mind ; 
while they furnish materials for the most pungent satire to 
other nations. A United States senator declared that the 
sight of a. drove of slaves was so insupportable that he al- 
ways avoided it when he could ; and an intelligent Scotch, 
man said, when he first entered Chesapeake Bay, and cast 
his eye along our coast, the sight of the slaves brought his 
heart into his throat. How can we help feeling a sense of 
shame, when we read Moore's contemptuous couplet, 

" The fustian flag that proudly waves, 
In splendid mockery, o'er a land of slaves ?" 

The lines would be harmless enough, if they were false ; the 
sting lies in their truth. 

Finally, I have described some of the horrors of the slave- 
trade, because when our constitution was formed, the gov- 
ernment pledged itself not to abolish this traffic until 1808. 
We began our career of freedom by granting a twenty years' 
lease of iniquity — twenty years of allowed invasion of other 
men's rights — twenty years of bloodshed, violence, and fraud ! 
And this will be told in our annals — this will be heard of to 
the end of time ! 

While the slave-trade was allowed, the South could use it 
to advance their views in various ways. In their represen- 
tation to Congress, five slaves counted the same as three 
freemen ; of course, every fresh cargo was not only an in- 
crease of property, but an increase of political power. Ample 
time was allowed to lay in a stock of slaves to supply the 

* In Niles's Register, vol. xxxv, page 4, 1 find the following : " Dealing 
in slaves has become a large business. Establishments are made at sev- 
eral places in Maryland and Virginia, at which they are sold like cattle. 
These places are strongly built, and well supplied with thumbscrews, 
gags, cowskins and other whips, oftentimes bloody. But the laws per- 
mit the traffic, and it is suffered." 

f In the sugar-growing States the condition of the negro is much more 
pitiable than where co'ton is the staple commodity. 



ON ALL CONCERNED IN IT. 37 

new slave states and territories that might grow up ; and 
when this was effected, the prohibition of foreign commerce 
in human flesh, operated as a complete tariff, to'protect the 
domestic supply. 

Every man who buys a slave promotes this traffic, by 
raising the value of the article ; every man who owns a 
slave, indirectly countenances it ; every man who allows 
that slavery is a lamentable necessity, contributes his share 
to support it ; and he who votes for admitting a slave-hold- 
ing State into the Union, fearfully augments the amount of 
this crime. 



38 COMPARATIVE VIEW OF SLAVERY, 



CHAPTER II. 



COMPARATIVE VIEW OF SLAVERY, IN DIFFERENT AGES AND 
NATIONS. 



E'en from my tongue some heartfelt truths may fall 
And outraged Nature claims the care of all. 
These wrongs in any place would force a tear ; 
But call for stronger, deepersfeeling here." 

Oh, sons of freedom ! equalize your laws — 
Be all consistent — plead the negro's cause — 
Then all the nations in your code may see, 
That, black or white, Americans are free." 



Between ancient and modern slavery there is this re- 
markable distinction — the former originated in motives of 
humanity ; the latter is dictated solely by avarice. The 
ancients made slaves of captives taken in war, as an ame- 
lioration of the original custom of indiscriminate slaughter ; 
the moderns attack defenceless people, without any provo- 
cation, and steal them, for the express purpose of making 
them slaves. 

Modern slavery, indeed, in all its particulars, is more odious 
than the ancient ; and it is worthy of remark that the condi- 
tion of slaves has always been worse just in proportion to the 
freedom enjoyed by their masters. In Greece, none were 
so proud of liberty as the Spartans ; and they were a prov- 
erb among the neighboring States for their severity to slaves. 
The slave code of the Roman republic was rigid and tyran- 
nical in the extreme ; and cruelties became so common and 
excessive, that the emperors, in the latter days of Roman 
power, were obliged to enact laws to restrain them. In the 
modern world, England and America are the most conspic 
uous for enlightened views of freedom, and bold vindication 
of the equal rights of man ; yet in these two countries slave 
laws have been framed as bad as they were in Pagan, iron- 
hearted Rome ; and the customs are in some respects more 
oppressive ; — modern slavery unquestionably wears its very 



IN DIFFERENT AGES AND NATIONS. 39 

worst aspect in the Colonies of "England and the United States 
of North America. I hardly know how to decide their re- 
spective claims... My countrymen are fond of pre-eminence, 
and I am afraid they deserve it here — especially if we throw 
into the scale their loud boasts of superiority over all the 
rest of the world in civil and religious freedom. The slave 
codes of the United States and of the British West Indies 
were originally almost precisely the same ; but their laws 
have been growing milder and milder, while ours have in- 
creased in severity. The British have the advantage of us 
in this respect — they long ago dared to describe the monster 
as it is ; and they are now grappling with it, with the over- 
whelming strength of a great nation's concentrated energies. 
— The Dutch, those sturdy old friends of liberty, and the 
French, who have been stark mad for freedom, rank next 
for the severity of their slave laws and customs. The Spanish 
and Portuguese are milder than either. 

I will give a brief view of some of our own laws on this 
subject ; for the correctness of which, I refer the reader to 
Stroud's Sketch of the Slave Laws of the United States of 
America. In the first place, we will inquire upon what 
ground the negro slaves in this country are claimed as prop- 
erty. Most of them are the descendants of persons kid- 
napped on the coast of Africa, and brought here while we 
were British Colonies ; and as the slave-trade was openly 
sanctioned more than twenty years after our acknowledged 
independence, in 1783, and as the traffic is still carried on 
by smugglers, there are, no doubt, thousands of slaves, now 
living in the United States, who are actually stolen from 
Africa.* 

A provincial law of Maryland enacted that any white 
woman who married a negro slave should serve his master 
during her husband's lifetime, and that all their children 
should be slaves. This law was not repealed until the end 
of eighteen years, and it then continued in full force with 
regard to those who had contracted such marriages in the 
intermediate time ; therefore the descendants of white women 
so situated may be slaves unto the present day. The doc- 
trine of the common law is that the offspring shall follow the 
condition of the father ; but slave law (with the above tem- 
porary exception) reverses the common law, and provides 

* In the new slave States, there are a great many negroes, who can 
speak no other language than some of the numerous African dialects. 



40 COMPARATIVE VIEW OF SLAVER V, 

that children shall follow the condition of the mother. Hence 
mulattoes and their descendants are held in perpetual bond- 
age, though the father is a free white man. " Any person 
whose maternal ancestor, even in the remotest degree of dis- 
tance, can be shown to have been a negro, Indian, mulatto, 
or a mestizo, not free at the time this law was introduced, 
although the paternal ancestor at each successive genera- 
tion may have been a white free man, is declared to be the 
subject of perpetual slavery." Even the code of Jamaica, 
is on this head, more liberal than ours ; by an express law, 
slavery ceases at the fourth degree of distance from a negro 
ancestor : and in the other British West Indies, the estab- 
lished custom is such, that quadroons or mestizoes (as they 
call the second and third degrees) are rarely seen in a state 
of slavery. Here, neither law nor public opinion favors the 
mulatto descendants of free white men. This furnishes a 
convenient game to the slaveholder — it enables him to fill 
his purse by means of his own vices ; — the right to sell one 
half of his children provides a fortune for the remainder. — 
Had the maxim of the common law been allowed, — i. e. that 
the offspring follows the condition of the father, — the mu- 
lattoes, almost without exception, would have been free, and 
thus the prodigious and alarming increase of our slave pop- 
ulation might have been prevented. The great augmenta- 
tion of the servile class in the Southern States, compared 
with the West India colonies, has been thought to indicate a 
much milder form of slavery ; but there are other causes, 
which tend to produce the result. There are much fewer 
white men in the British West Indies than in our slave States ; 
hence the increase of the mulatto population is less rapid. 
Here the descendants of a colored mother never become free ; 
in the West Indies, they cease to be slaves in the fourth gen- 
eration, at farthest ; and their posterity increase the free 
colored class, instead of adding countless links to the chain 
of bondage. 

The manufacture of sugar is extremely toilsome, and when 
driven hard, occasions a great waste of negro life ; this cir- 
cumstance, together with the tropical climate of the West 
Indies, furnish additional reasons for the disproportionate in- 
crease of slaves between those islands and our own country, 
where a comparatively small quantity of sugar is cultivated. 

It may excite surprise, that Indians and their offspring are 
comprised in the doom of perpetual slavery 5 yet not only is 



IN DIFFERENT AGES AND NATIONS. 41 

incidental mention of them as slaves to be met with in the 
laws of most of the States of our confederacy, but in one, at 
least, direct legislation may be cited to sanction their enslave- 
ment. In Virginia, an act was passed, in 1679, declaring 
that " for the better encouragement of soldiers, whatever In 
dian prisoners were taken in a war, in which the colony 
was then engaged, should be free purchase to the soldiers 
taking them;" and in 1682, it was decreed that "all ser- 
vants brought into Virginia, by sea or land, not being Chris- 
tians, whether negroes, Moors, mulattoes, or Indians, (except 
Turks and Moors in amity with Great Britain) and all In- 
dians, which should thereafter be sold by neighboring Indians^ 
or any other trafficking with us, as slaves, should be slaves to 
all intents and purposes." These laws ceased in 1691 ; but 
the descendants of all Indians sold in the intermediate time 
are now among slaves. 

In order to show the true aspect of slavery among us, I 
will state distinct propositions, each supported by the evi- 
dence of actually existing laws. 

1. Slavery is hereditary and perpetual, to the last moment 
of the slave's earthly existence, and to all his descendants, to 
the latest posterity. 

2. The labor of the slave is compulsory and uncompensa- 
ted ; ivhile the kind of labor, the amount of toil, and the time 
allowed for rest, are dictated solely by the master. No bar- 
gain is made, no wages given. A pure despotism governs 
the human brute ; and even his covering and provender, both 
as to quantity and quality, depend entirely on the master's 
discretion. 

3. The slave being considered a personal chattel, may be 
sold, or pledged, or leased, at the will of his master. He 
may be exchanged for marketable commodities, or taken in 
execution for the debts, or taxes, either of a living, or a de- 
ceased master. Sold at auction, " either individually, or in 
lots to suit the purchaser," he may remain with his family, or 
be separated from them for ever. 

4. Slaves can make no contracts, and have no legal right 
4 o any property, real or personal. Their own honest earn- 

ngs, and the legacies of friends belong, in point of law, to 
their masters. 

5. Neither a slave, nor free colored person, can be a idtness 
against any white or free man, in a court of justice, however 
atrocious may have been the crimes they have seen him com- 

4* 



42 COMPARATIVE VIEW OF SLAVER i', 

mU : but they may give testimony against a fellow-slave, or 
free colored man, even in cases affecting life. 

6. The slave may be punished at his master's discretion — 
without trial — without any means of legal redress, — whether 
his offence be real, or imaginary : and the master can trans- 
fer the same despotic power to any person, or persons, he may 
choose to appoint. 

7. The slave is not allowed to resist any free man under 
any circumstances : his only safety consists in the fact that 
his owner may bring suit, and recover, the price of his body, 
in case his life is taken, or his limbs rendered unfit for labor. 

8. Slaves cannot redeem themselves, or obtain a change of 
masters, though cruel treatment may have rendered such a 
change necessary for their personal safety. 

9. The slave is entirely unprotected in his domestic rela- 
tions. 

10. The laws greatly obstruct the manumission of slaves, 
even where the master is willing to enfranchise them. 

11. The operation of the laws tends to deprive slaves of 
religious instruction and consolation. 

12. The ivhole power of the laws is exerted to keep slaves 
in a state of the lowest ignorance, 

13. There is in this country a monstrous inequality of law 
and right. What is a trifling fault in the ivhite man, is con- 
sidered highly criminal in the slave ; the same offences which 
cost a white man a few dollars only, are punished in the negro 
with death. 

14. The laws operate most oppressively upon free people 
of color. 

Proposition 1. — Slavery hereditary and perpetual. 

In Maryland the following act was passed in 1715, and is 
still in force : " All negroes and other slaves, already im- 
ported, or hereafter to be imported into this province, and 
all children now born, or hereafter to be born, of such ne- 
groes and slaves, shall be slaves during their natural lives." 
The law of South Carolina is, " All negroes, Indians, (free 
Indians in amity with this government, and negroes, mulat- 
toes, and mestizoes, who are now free, excepted,) mulattoes 
or mestizoes, who now are, or shall hereafter be in this prov 
ince, and all their issue born, or to be born, shall be a<nd 
remain for ever hereafter absolute slaves, and shall follow 
the condition of the mother." Laws -similar exist in Vir- 



IN DIFFERENT AGES AND NATIONS. 



43 



ginia, Georgia, Mississippi, and Louisiana. In consequence 
of these laws, people so nearly white as not to be distin- 
guished from Europeans, may be, and have been, legally 
claimed as slaves. 

Prop. 2. — Labor compulsory and uncompensated, fyc. 

In most of the slave States the law is silent on this subject ; 
but that it is the established custom is proved by laws re- 
straining the excessive abuse of this power, in some of the 
States. Thus in one State there is a fine often shillings, in 
another of two dollars, for making slaves labor on Sunday, 
unless it be in works of absolute necessity, or the necessary 
occasions of the family. There is likewise a law which 
provides that " any master, who withholds proper sustenance, 
or clothing, from his slaves, or overworks them, so as to in- 
jure their health, shall upon sufficient information [here lies 
the rub] being laid before the grand jury, be by said jury 
presented ; whereupon it shall be the duty of the attorney, 
or solicitor-general, to prosecute said owners, who, on con- 
viction, shall be sentenced to pay a fine, or be imprisoned, 
or both, at the discretion of the court." 

The negro act of South Carolina contains the following 
language : " Whereas many owners of slaves, and others, 
who have the care, management, and overseeing of slaves, 
do confine them so closely to hard labor, that they have not 
sufficient time for natural rest ; be it therefore enacted, that 
if any owner of slaves, or others having the care, &c, shall 
put such slaves to labor more than fifteen hours in twenty- 
four, from the twenty- fifth of March to the twenty- fifth of 
September ; or more than fourteen hours in twenty-four 
hours, from the twenty-fifth of September to the twenty-fifth 
of March, any such person shall forfeit a sum of money not 
exceeding twenty pounds, nor under five pounds, current 
money, for every time he, she, or they, shall offend therein, 
at the discretion of the justice before whom complaint shall 
be made." 

In Louisiana it is enacted, that " the slaves shall be al- 
lowed half an hour for breakfast, during the whole year; 
from the first of May to the first of November, they shall be 
allowed two hours for dinner; and from the first of Novem- 
ber to the first of May, one hour and a half for dinner : pro- 
vided, however, that the owners, who will themselves take 
the trouble of having the meals of their slaves prepared, be, 



44 COMPARATIVE VIEW OP SLAVERY, 

and they are hereby authorized to abridge, by half an hour 
a day, the time fixed for their rest." 

All these laws, apparently for the protection of the slave, 
are rendered perfectly null and void, by the fact, that the 
testimony of a negro or mulatto is never taken against a 
white man. If a slave be found toiling in the field on the 
Sabbath, who can prove that his master commanded him to 
doit? 

The law of Louisiana stipulates that a slave shall have 
one linen shirt,* and a pair of pantaloons for the summer, 
and one linen shirt and a woollen great-coat and pantaloons 
for the winter ; and for food, one pint of salt, and a barrel 
of Indian corn, rice, or beans, every month. In North Car- 
olina, the law decides that a quart of corn per day is suffi- 
cient. But, if the slave does not receive this poor allowance, 
who can prove the fact. The withholding of proper suste- 
nance is absolutely incapable of proof, unless the evidence 
of the sufferer himself be allowed; and the law, as if deter- 
mined to obstruct the administration of justice, permits the 
master to exculpate himself by an oath that the charges 
against him are false. Clothing may, indeed, be ascertained 
by inspection ; but who is likely to involve himself in quar- 
rels with a white master because a poor negro receives a 
few rags less than the law provides ? I apprehend that a 
person notorious for such gratuitous acts of kindness, would 
have little peace or safety, in any slaveholding country. 

If a negro be compelled to toil night and day, (as it is said 
they sometimes are,f at the season of sugar-making) who is 
to prove that he works more than his fourteen or fifteen 
hours ? No slave can be a witness for himself, or for his 
fellow-slaves ; and should a white man happen to know the 
fact, there are ninety-nine chances out of a hundred, that he 
will deem it prudent to be silent. And here I would remark 
that even in the island of Jamaica, where the laws have 
given a most shocking license to cruelty, — even in Jamaica, 
the slave is compelled to work but ten hours a day, beside 
having many holidays allowed him. In Maryland, Virginia, 
Georgia, Pennsylvania, and New-Jersey, the convicts con- 
demned to hard labor in the penitentiaries, are required by 
law to toil only from eight to ten hours a day, according to 

* This shirt is usually made of a coarse kind of bagging. 

| See Western Review, No. 2, on the Agriculture of Louisiana. 



IN DIFFERENT AGES AND NATIONS. 45 

the season of the year ; yet the law providing that the in- 
nocent slave should labor but fourteen or fifteen hours a day, 
professes to have been made as a merciful amelioration of 
his lot ! — In Rome, the slaves had a yearly festival called 
the Saturnalia, during which they were released from toil, 
changed places with their masters, and indulged in unbounded 
merriment ; at first it lasted but one day ; but its duration 
afterwards extended to two, three, four, and five days in 
succession. We have no Saturnalia here — unless we choose 
thus to designate a coffle of slaves, on the fourth of July, rat- 
tling their chains to the sound of a violin, and carrying the 
banner of freedom in hands loaded with irons. 

In Georgia, " The inferior courts of the several counties on 
receiving information on oath of any infirm slave or slaves, 
being in a suffering condition, from the neglect of the owner 
or owners, can make particular inquiries into the situation 
of such slaves, and render such relief as they think proper. 
And the said courts may sue for and recover from the owner 
of such slaves the amount appropriated for their relief." The 
information must, in the first place, be given by a white man 
upon oath ; and of whom must the " particular inquiries" be 
made ? Not of the slave, nor of his companions, — for their 
evidence goes for nothing ; and would a master, capable of 
starving an aged slave, be likely to confess the whole truth 
about it? The judges of the inferior courts, if from defect of 
evidence, or any other cause, they are unable to prove that 
relief was absolutely needed, must pay all the expenses from 
their own private purses. Are there many, think you, so 
desperately enamored of justice, as to take all this trouble, 
and incur all this risk, for a starving slave 1 

Prop. 3. — Slaves considered personal chattels, liable to 
be sold, pledged, fyc. 

The advertisements in the Southern papers furnish a con- 
tinued proof of this ; it is, therefore, unnecessary to go into 
the details of evidence.* The power to separate mothers 
and children, husbands and wives, is exercised only in the 
British West Indies, and the republic of the United States ! 

In Louisiana there is indeed a humane provision in this 

* A white man engaged in a disturbance was accompanied by three 
or four slaves ; his counsel contended that there were not persons enough 
in the affair to constitute a riot, because the slaves were mere chattels in 
the eye of the law. It was, however, decided that when liable to the pun- 
ishment of the law, they were persona. 



46 COMPARATIVE VIEW OF SLAVERS', 

respect : " If at a public sale of slaves, there happen to be 
some who are disabled through old age or otherwise, and 
who have children, such slaves shall not be sold but with such 
of his or of her children, whom he or she may think proper 
to go with." But though parents cannot be sold apart from 
their children, without their consent, yet the master may 
keep the parents and sell the children, if he chooses ; in 
which case the separation is of course equally painful. — 
"By the Code Noir, of Louis the Fourteenth, husbands and 
wives, parents and children, are not allowed to be sold sepa- 
rately. If sales contrary to this regulation are made by 
process of law, under seizure for debts, such sales are de- 
clared void ; but if such sales are made voluntarily on the part 
of the owner, a wiser remedy is given — the wife, or husband, 
children, or parent retained by the seller, may be claimed 
by the purchaser, without any additional price ; and thus 
the separated family may be re-united again. The most 
solemn agreement between the parties contrary to this rule 
has been adjudged void." In the Spanish, Portuguese, and 
French colonies, plantation slaves are considered real estate, 
attached to the soil they cultivate, and of course not liable to 
be torn from their homes whenever the master chooses to sell 
them ; neither can they be seized or sold by their master's 
creditors. 

The following quotation shows how the citizens of this 
country bear comparison with men called savages. A re- 
cent traveller in East Florida says : " Another trait in the 
character of the Seminole Indians, is their great indulgence 
to their slaves. The greatest pressure of hunger or thirst 
never occasions them to impose onerous labors on the ne- 
groes, or to dispose of them, though tempted by high offers, 
if the latter are unwilling to be sold." 

Prop. 4. — Slaves can have no legal claim to any property. 

The civil code of Louisiana declares : All that a slave 
possesses belongs to his master — he possesses nothing of his 
own, except his peculium, that is to say, the sum of money 
or moveable estate, which his master chooses he should pos- 
sess." — " Slaves are incapable of inheriting or transmitting 
property." — "Slaves cannot dispose of, or receive, by do- 
nation, unless they have been enfranchised conformably to 
law, or are expressly enfranchised by the act, by which the 
donation is made to them." 



IN DIFFERENT AGES AND NATIONS. 47 

In South Carolina " it is not lawful for any slave to buy, 
sell, trade, &c, without a license from his owner ; nor shall 
any slave be allowed to keep any boat or canoe, for his own 
benefit, or raise any horses, cattle, sheep, or hogs, under 
pain of forfeiting all the goods, boats, canoes, horses, &c, 
&c. ; and it shall be lawful for any person to seize and take 
away from any slave all such goods, boats, &c, and to de- 
liver the same into the hands of the nearest justice of the 
peace ; and if the said justice be satisfied that such seizure 
has been made according to law, he shall order the goods to 
be sold at public outcry ; one half of the moneys arising 
from the sale to go to the State, and the other half to him or 
them that sue for the same." In North Carolina there is a 
similar law ; but half of the proceeds of the sale goes to the 
county poor, and half to the informer. 

In Georgia, a fine of thirty dollars a week is imposed 
upon any master who allows his slave to hire himself out for 
his own benefit. In Virginia, if a master permit his slave 
to hire himself out, he is subject to a fine, from ten to twenty 
dollars ; and it is lawful for any person, and the duty of the 
Sheriff, to apprehend the slave. In Maryland, the master, 
by a similar offence, except during twenty days at harvest 
time, incurs a penalty of twenty dollars per month. 

In Mississippi, if a master allow his slave to cultivate cot- 
ton for his own use, he incurs a fine of fifty dollars ; and if 
he license his slave to trade on his own account, he forfeits 
fifty dollars for each and every offence. Any person trading 
with a slave forfeits four times the value of the article pur- 
chased ; and if unable to pay, he receives thirty-nine lashes, 
and pays the cost. 

Among the Romans, the Grecians, and the ancient Ger- 
mans, slaves were permitted to acquire and enjoy property 
of considerable value, as their own. This property was called 
the slave's peculium ; and " the many anxious provisions of 
the Imperial Code on the subject, plainly show the general 
extent and importance of such acquisitions." — "The Roman 
slave was also empowered by law to enter into commercial 
and other contracts, by which the master was bound, to the 
extent of the value of the slave's peculium" — " The Gre- 
cian slaves had also their peculium ; and were rich enough 
to make periodical presents to their masters, as well as often 
to purchase their freedom." 

;< The Helots of Sparta were so far from being destitute 



48 COMPARATIVE VIEW OF SLAVERY, 

of property, or of legal powers necessary to its acquisition, 
that they were farmers of the lands of their masters, at low 
fixed rents, which the proprietor could not raise without 
dishonor." 

" In our own day, the Polish slaves, prior to any recent al- 
leviations of their lot, were not only allowed to hold property, 
but endowed with it by their lords." — " In the Spanish and 
Portuguese colonies, the money and effects, which a slave 
acquires, by his labor at times set apart for his own use, or 
by any other honest means, are legally his own, and cannot 
be seized by the master." — " In Africa, slaves may acquire 
extensive property, which their sable masters cannot take 
away. In New-Calabar, there is a man named Amachree, 
who has more influence and wealth than all the rest of the 
community, though he himself is a purchased slave, brought 
from the Braspan country ; he has offered the price of a 
hundred slaves for his freedom ; but according to the laws 
of the country he cannot obtain it, though his master, who is 
a. poor and obscure individual, would gladly let him have it." 

Among the Jews, a servant, or slave, often filled the 
highest offices of honor and profit, connected with the family. 
Indeed slavery among this ancient people was in its mildest, 
patriarchal form ; and the same character is now stamped 
upon the domestic slavery of Africa. St. Paul says, " The 
heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a ser- 
vant, [the Hebrew word translated servant means slave] 
though he be lord of all." Gal. iv. 1. Again ; " A wise 
servant shall have rule over a son that causeth shame, and 
shall have part of the inheritance among the brethren." 
Proverbs, xvii. 2. The wealthy patriarch Abraham, before 
the birth of Isaac, designed to make his head servant, Elea- 
zer of Damascus, his heir. 

Prop. 5. — No colored man can he evidence against a 
white man, <$fc. 

This is an almost universal rule of slave law. The advo- 
cates of slavery seem to regard it as a necessary consequence 
of the system, which neither admits of concealment, nor 
needs it. " In one or two of our States this rule is founded 
upon usage ; in others it is sanctioned by express legislation" 

So long as this rule is acted upon, it is very plain, that all 
regulations made for the protection of the slave are perfectly 
useless ;— however grievous his wrongs, they cannot be proved 






IN DIFFERENT AGES AND NATIONS. 49 

The master is merely obliged to take the precaution not to 
starve, or mangle, or murder his negroes, in the presence of 
a white man. No matter if five hundred colored people be 
present, they cannot testify to the fact. Blackstone remarks, 
that " rights' would be declared in vain, and in vain directed 
to be observed, if there were no method of recovering and 
asserting those rights, when wrongfully withheld, or invaded. " 
Stephens says : " It seems to result from the brief and 
general accounts which we have of the law of the Spanish 
and Portuguese settlements, though I find it nowhere ex- 
pressly noticed, that slaves there are not, in all cases at 
least, incompetent witnesses. But even in the French Wind- 
ward Islands the evidence of negro slaves was admitted 
against all free persons, the master only excepted ; and that 
in criminal as well as in civil cases, where the testimony of 
white people could not be found to establish the facts in dis- 
pute. The Code Noir merely allowed a slave's testimony 
to be heard by the judge, as a suggestion which might throw 
light on other evidence, without amounting of itself to any 
degree of legal proof. But the Sovereign Council of Martin- 
ique, humbly represented to his majesty that great inconve- 
niences might result from the execution of this law, by the 
impunity of many crimes, which could not be proved otherwise 
than by the testimony cf slaves ; and they prayed that such 
evidence might be received in all cases in which there should 
not be sufficient proof by free witnesses. In consequence 
of this, the article in question was varied so far as to admit 
the testimony of slaves, when white witnesses were wanting, 
except against their masters." 

Prop. 6. — The master has absolute power to punish a 

slave, fyc. 
Stroud says, " There was a time in many, if not in all the 
slaveholding districts of our country, when the murder of a 
slave was followed by a pecuniary fine only. In one State, 
the change of the law in this respect has been very recent. 
At the present date (1827) I am happy to say the wilful, 
malicious, deliberate murder of a slave, by whomsoever per- 
petrated, is declared to be punishable with death m every 
State. The evil is not that the laws sanction crime, but that 
they do not punish it. And this arises chiefly, if not solely, 
from the exclusion of the testimony, on the trial of a white 
person, of all those who are not white." 



50 COMPARATIVE VIEW OF SLAVERY, 

" The conflicting influences of humanity and prejudice are 
strangely contrasted in the law of North Carolina on this sub* 
ject. An act passed in 1798, runs thus : ' Whereas by 
another act of assembly, passed in the year 1774, the kill- 
ing of a slave, however wanton, cruel, and deliberate, is 
only punishable in the first instance by imprisonment, and 
paying the value thereof to the owner, which distinction of 
criminality between the murder of a white person and one 
who is. equally a human creature, but merely of a different 
complexion, is disgraceful to humanity, and degrading in the 
highest degree to the laws and principles of a free Christian, 
and enlightened country, be it enacted, &c, that if any per- 
son shall hereafter be guilty of wilfully and maliciously kill- 
ing a slave, such offender shall, upon the first conviction 
thereof, be adjudged guilty of murder, and shall suffer the 
same punishment as if he had killed a free man ; Provided 
always, this act shall not extend to the person killing a slave 
outlawed by virtue of any act of assembly of this State, or to 
any slave in the act of resistance* to his lawful owner or 
master, or to any slave dying under moderate correction.' " 

In the laws of Tennessee and Georgia, there is a similar 
proviso. Where could such a monstrous anomaly be found, 
save in a code of slave laws? Die of moderate punishment ! ! 
Truly, this is an unveiling of consciences ! 

" To set the matter in its proper light, it may be added 
that a proclamation of outlawry^ against a slave is author- 
ized, whenever he runs away from his master, conceals, him- 
self in some obscure retreat, and to sustain life, kills a hog, 
or some animal of the cattle kind ! 

" A pecuniary mulct was the only restraint upon the wil- 
ful murder of a slave, from the year 1740 to 1821, a period 
of more than eighty years. I find in the case of The State 
vs. M'Gee, 1 Bay's Reports, 164, it is said incidentally by 
Messrs. Pinckney and Ford, counsel for the State, that the 
frequency of the offence was owing to the nature of the pun- 

* "It has been judicially determined that it is justifiable to kill a slave, 
resisting, or offering to resist his master by force." — Stroud. 

f " The outlawry of a slave is not, I believe, an unusual occurrence. 
Very recently, a particular account was given of the killing of a black man, 
not charged with any ofiencp, by a person in pursuit of an outlawed slave: 
owing, as it was stated, to the person killed not ansioering a call made by 
his pursuers. Whether the call was heard or not, of course could not be 
assertained, nor did it appear to have excited any inquiry." — Stroud. 



IN DIFFERENT AGES AND NATIONS. 51 

ishment. This was said in the public court-hou.se by men 
of great respectability ; nevertheless, thirty years elapsed 
before a change of the law was effected. So far as I have 
been able to learn, the following section has disgraced the 
statute-book of South Carolina from the year 1740 to the 
present hour : ' In case any person shall wilfully cut out the 
tongue, put out the eye, cruelly scald, burn, or deprive any 
slave of any limb, or member, or shall inflict any other cruel 
punishment, — [otherwise than by whipping, or beating, with 
a horsewhip, cowskin, switch, or small slick, or by putting 
irons on, or confining, or imprisoning such slave,] — every 
such person shall, for every such offence, forfeit the sum of 
one hundred pounds, current money.' Here is direct legis- 
lation to sanction beating without limit, with horsewhip or 
cowskin, — the application of irons to the human body, — and 
perpetual incarceration in a dungeon, according to the will 
of the master ; and the nutilation of limbs is paid by a tri- 
fling penalty ! 

" The revised code of Louisiana declares : ' The slave is 
entirely subject to the will of the master, who may correct 
and chastise him, though not with unusual rigor, nor so as 
to maim or mutilate him, or to expose him to the danger of 
loss of life, or to cause his death.' " Who shall decide what 
punishment is unusual ? 

In Missouri, if a slave refuses to obey his or her master 
mistress, overseer, or employer, in any lawful commands, 
such slaves 'may be committed to the county jail, there to 
remain as long as his owner pleases. 

In some of the States there are indeed restraining laws ; 
but they are completely ineffectual, from the difficulty of ob- 
taining the evidence of white men. 

" The same despotic power can be exerted by the attorney, 
manager, driver, or any other person who is, for the time 
being, placed over the slave by order of the owner, or his 
delegates. The following is the language of the Louisiana 
code ; and it represents the established customs of all the 
slaveholding States : ' The condition of a slave being merely 
a passive one, his subordination to his master, and to all who 
represent him, is not susceptible of any modification, or re- 
striction, [except in what can incite the slave to the commis* 
sion of crime] in such manner, that he owes to his master, 
and to all his family, a respect without bounds, and an abso- 
lute obedience; and he is consequently to execute all the 



52 COMPARATIVE VIEW OF SLAVERY, 

orders, which he receives from his said master, or from 
them.' " 

What chance of mercy the slave has from the generality 
of overseers, may be conjectured from the following testi- 
mony given by a distinguished Virginian : Mr. Wirt, in his 
" Life of Patrick Henry," speaking of the different classes 
m Virginia, says : " Last and lowest, a feculum of beings 
called "overseers — the most abject, degraded, unprincipled 
race — always cap in hand to the Dons who employed them, 
and furnishing materials for the exercise of their pride, in- 
solence, and spirit of domination." 

The Gentoo code, the most ancient in the world, allowed 
a wife, a son, a pupil, a younger brother, or a slave, to be 
whipped with a lash, or bamboo twig, in such a manner as 
not to occasion any dangerous hurt ; and whoever trans- 
gressed the rule, suffered the punishment of a thief. In this 
case, the slave and other members jf the family were equally 
protected. 

The Mosaic law was as follows : " If a man smite the eye 
of his servant, or the eye of his maid, that it perish, he shall 
let him go free for his "eye's sake. And if he smite out his 
man-servant's tooth, or his maid-servant's tooth, he shall let 
him go free for his tooth's sake." Exodus, xxi. 26, 27. 

Prop. 7. — The slave never allowed to resist a white man. 

It is enacted in Georgia, " If any slave shall presume to 
strike any white man, such slave, upon trial and conviction 
before the justice, shall for the first offence, suffer such pun- 
ishment as the said justice thinks fit, not extending to life or 
limb ; and for the second offence, death" It is the same in 
South Carolina, excepting that death is there the punishment 
of the third offence. However wanton and dangerous the 
attack upon the slave may be, he must submit ; there is only 
one proviso — he may be excused for striking in defence of 
his master, overseer, &c, and of their property. In Mary- 
land, a colored man, even if he be free, may have his ears 
cropped for striking a white man. In Kentucky, it is en- 
acted that " if any negro, mulatto, or Indian, bond or free, 
shall at any time lift his or her hand, in opposition to any 
person not colored, they shall, the offence being proved be- 
fore a justice of the peace, receive thirty lashes on his or her 
bare back, well laid on." There is a ridiculous gravity in 
the following section of a law in Louisiana : " Free people 



IN DIFFERENT AGES AND NATIONS. '53 

of color ought never to insult or strike white people, nor pre- 
sume to conceive themselves equal to the whites ; but on the 
contrary, they ought to yield to them on every occasion, and 
never speak or answer them but with respect, under the 
penalty of imprisonment, according to the nature of the 
offence." 

Such laws are a positive inducement to violent and vicious 
white men to oppress and injure people of color. In this 
point of view, a negro becomes the slave of every white man 
in the community. The brutal drunkard, or the ferocious 
madman, can beat, rob, and mangle him with perfect impu- 
nity. Dr. Torrey, in his " Portraiture of Domestic Slavery," 
relates an affecting anecdote, which happened near Wash- 
ington. A free negro walking along the road, was set upon 
by two intoxicated ruffians on horseback, who, without any 
provocation, began to torture him for amusement. One of 
them tied him to the tail of his horse, and thus dragged him 
along, while the other followed, applying the lash. The 
poor fellow died by the roadside, in consequence of this 
treatment. 

The owner may prosecute when a slave is rendered unfit 
for labor, by personal violence ; and in the reports of these 
cases many painful facts come to light which would other- 
wise have remained for ever unknown. See Judicial Reports. 

Prop. 8. — Slaves cannot redeem themselves or change 
masters. 

Stroud says, " as to the right of redemption, this proposi- 
tion holds good in all the slaveholding States ; and is equally 
true as it respects the right to compel a change of masters^ 
except in Louisiana. According to the new civil code of 
that State, the latter privilege may sometimes, perhaps, be 
obtained by the slave. But the master must first be convicted 
of cruelty— a task so formidable tlmt it can hardly be ranked 
among possibilities ; and secondly, it is optional with the 
judge, whether or not, to make the decree in favor of the 
slave." 

If a slave should not obtain a decree in his favor, what has 
he to expect from a master exasperated against him, for 
making- che attempt 1 

At Athens, so deservedly admired for the mildness of her 
slave laws, the door of freedom was opened widely. The 
abused slaves might fly to the Temple of Theseus, whence 
5* 



54 COMPARATIVE VIEW OF SLAVERY, 

no one had a right to take them, except for the purpose of 
publicly investigating their wrongs. If their complaints were 
well founded, they were either enfranchised, or delivered to 
more merciful hands. 

In the Roman Empire, from the time of Adrian and the 
Antonines, slaves were protected by the laws, and undue 
severity being proved, they received freedom or a different 
master. 

By the Code Noir of the French islands, a slave cruelly 
treated is forfeited to the crown ; and the court, which judges 
the offence, has power to confer freedom on the sufferer 
In the Spanish and Portuguese colonies, a slave on complaint 
of ill-usage obtains public protection ; he may be manumit- 
ted, or change his master. 

Prop, 9. — Slave unprotected in his domestic relations. 

In proof of this, it is only necessary to repeat that the 
slave and his wife, and his daughters, are considered as the 
property of their owners, and compelled to yield implicit 
obedience — that he is allowed to give no evidence — that he 
must noc resist any white man, under any circumstances 
which do not interfere with his master's interest — and finally, 
that public opinion ridicules the slave's claim to any exclu- 
sive right in his own wife and children. 

In Athens, the female slave could demand protection from 
the magistrates ; and if her complaints of insulting treatment 
were well founded, she could be sold to another master, who, 
in his turn, forfeited his claim by improper conduct. 

Prop. 10. — The laws obstruct emancipation. 

In nearly all slaveholding States, a slave emancipated by 
his master's will, may be seized and sold to satisfy any debt. 
In Louisiana, fraud of creditors is by law considered as 
proved, if it can be made to- appear that the master, at the 
moment of executing the deed of enfranchisement, had not 
sufficient property to pay all his debts ; and if after payment 
of debts, there be not personal estate enough to satisfy the 
widow's claim to one third, his slaves, though declared to 
be free by his last will, are nevertheless liable to be sold 
for the widow's portion. — In South Carolina, Georgia, Ala- 
bama, and Mississippi, a valid emancipation can only be 
gained by authority of the Legislature, expressly granted. 
A slave-owner cannot manumit his slaves without the formal 



IN DIFFERENT AGES AND NATIONS. 55 

consent of the Legislature. " In Georgia, any attempt to 
free a slave in any other manner than the prescribed form, 
is punished by a fine of two hundred dollars for each offence; 
and the slave or slaves are still, to all intents and purposes, 
in a state of slavery." A new act was passed in that State 
in 1818, by which any person, who endeavors to enfran- 
chise a slave by will, testament, contract, or stipulation, or 
who contrives indirectly to confer freedom by allowing his 
slaves to enjoy the profit of their labor and skill, incurs a 
penalty not exceeding one thousand dollars ; and the slaves 
who have been the object of such benevolence, are ordered 
to be seized and sold at public outcry. 

In North Carolina, "no slave is allowed to be set free, 
except for meritorious services, to be adjudged of and allowed 
by the county court, and license first had and obtained there- 
upon ;" and any slave manumitted contrary to this regula- 
tion may be seized, put in jail, and sold to the highest bidder. 
In Mississippi all the above obstacles to emancipation are 
combined in one act. 

In Kentucky, Missouri, Virginia, and Maryland, greater 
facilities are afforded to emancipation. An instrument in 
writing, signed by two witnesses, or acknowledged by the 
owner of the slave in open court, is sufficient ; the court 
reserving the power to demand security for the maintenance 
of aged or infirm slaves. By the Virginia laws, an emanci- 
pated negro, more than twenty-one years old, is liable to be 
again reduced to slavery, if he remain in the State more 
than twelve months after his manumission. 

In Louisiana, a slave cannot be emancipated, unless he is 
thirty years old and has behaved well at least four years 
preceding his freedom ; except a slave who has saved the 
life of his master, his master's wife, or one of his children. 
It is necessary to make known to the judge the intention of 
conferring freedom, who may authorize it, after it has been 
advertised at the door of the court-house forty days, without 
exciting any opposition. 

Stephens, in his history of West India slavery, supposes 
that the colonial codes of England are the only ones ex- 
pressly framed to obstruct emancipation. He is mistaken ; 
— the American republics share that distinction with their 
mother country. There are plenty of better things in 
England to imitate. 

According to the Mosaic law, a Hebrew could not retain 



56 COMPARATIVE VIEW OF SLAVERY, 

his brother, whom he might buy as a servant, more than 
six years, against his consent, and in the seventh year he 
went out free for nothing. If he came by himself, he went 
out by himself; if he were married when he came, his wife 
went with him. Exodus xxi, Deut. xv, Jeremiah xxxiv. 
Besides this, Hebrew slaves were, without exception, restored 
to freedom by the Jubilee. — " Ye shall hallow the fiftieth 
year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land, and unto all 
the inhabitants thereof." Leviticus xxv, 10. 

At Athens, if the slave possessed property enough to buy 
his freedom, the law compelled the master to grant it, when- 
ever the money was offered. 

The severe laws of Rome discouraged manumission ; but 
it was a very common thing for slaves to pay for freedom, 
out of their peculium ; and public opinion made it dishonor- 
able to retain them in bondage under such circumstances. 
"According to Cicero, sober and industrious slaves, who 
became such by captivity in war, seldom remained in servi- 
tude above six years." 

" In Turkey, the right of redemption is expressly regu- 
lated by the Koran. The master is commanded to give to 
all his slaves, that behave themselves faithfully, a writing, 
fixing beforehand the price at which they may be redeemed ; 
and which he is bound to accept, when tendered by them, 
or on their behalf." 

" In Brazil, a slave who can pay the value of his servi- 
tude, (the fair price of which may be settled by the magis- 
trate,) has a right to demand his freedom. And the case 
frequently happens ; for the slaves have one day in the week, 
and in some places two days, exclusively of Sundays and 
other festivals, which the industrious employ in providing a 
fund for their redemption." 

" In the Spanish colonies, the law is still more liberal. 
The civil magistrates are empowered to decide upon the just 
price of a slave, and when the negro is able to offer this 
sum, his master is compelled to grant his freedom. He may 
even redeem himself progressively. For instance, by pay- 
ing a sixth part of his appreciation, he may redeem for his 
own use one day in the week ; by employing this industri- 
ously, he will soon be enabled to buy another day ; by pur- 
suing the same laudable course, the remainder of his time 
may be redeemed with continually accelerated progress, till 
he becomes entitled to cn f 're manumission." 



IN DIFFERENT AGES AND NATIONS. 57 

Prop. 11. — Operation of the laws interferes with religious 
privileges. 

No places of public worship are prepared for the negro ; 
and churches are so scarce in the slaveholding States, com- 
pared with the number of white inhabitants, that it is not to 
be supposed great numbers of them follow their masters to 
such places ; and if they did, what could their rude, and 
merely sensual minds comprehend of a discourse addressed 
to educated men ? In Georgia, there is a law which forbids 
any congregation or company of negroes to assemble them- 
selves contrary to the act regulating patrols. Every justice 
of the peace may go in person, or send a constable, to dis- 
perse any assembly or meeting of slaves^ which may disturb 
the peace, endanger the safety, &c, and every slave taken 
at such meetings may, by order of the justice, without trial, 
receive on the bare back twenty-five stripes with whip, 
switch, or cowskin. In South Carolina, an act forbids the 
police officers to break into any place of religious meeting 
before nine o'clock, provided a majority of the assembly are 
white persons ; but if the quorum of white people should 
happen to be wanting, every slave would be liable to twenty- 
five lashes of the cowskin. 

These, and various similar regulations, are obviously made 
to prevent insurrections ; but it is plain that they must ma- 
terially interfere with the slave's opportunities for religious 
instruction. The fact is, there are inconveniences attending 
a general diffusion of Christianity in a slaveholding State — 
light must follow its path, and that light would reveal the 
surrounding darkness, — slaves might begin to think whether 
slavery could be reconciled with religious precepts, — and 
then the system is quite too republican — it teaches that all 
men are children of the same heavenly Father, who careth 
alike for all. 

The West India planters boldly and openly declared, that 
slavery and Christianity could not exist together ; in their 
minds the immediate inference was, that Christianity must 
be put down ; and very consistently they began to tine and 
imprison Methodist missionaries, burn chapels,* &c. 

* The slaves of any one owner may meet together for religious pur 
poses, if authorized by their master, and private chaplains may be hired 
to preach to them. The domestic slaves, who are entirely employed in 
the family, no doubt fare much better in this respect, than the plantation 
slaves ; but this, and all other negro privileges, depend entirely upon the 
slave's luck in the character of his master. 



58 COMPARATIVE VIEW OF SLAVERF, 

In Rome, the introduction of " Christianity abolished 
slavery ; the idea of exclusive property in our fellow-men 
was too obviously at variance with its holy precepts ; and 
its professors, in the sincerity of their hearts, made a formal 
surrender of such claims. In various ancient instruments 
of emancipation, the masters begin by declaring, that, ' for 
the love of God and Jesus Christ, for the easing of their 
consciences, and the safety of their souls,' they set their 
bondmen free." 

" It is remarkable that the ancient inhabitants of Great 
Britain used to sell their countrymen, and even their own 
children, to the Irish. The port of Bristol, afterwards so 
famous for the African slave-trade, was then equally dis- 
tinguished as a market for the same commodity, though of a 
different color. But when Ireland, in the year 1172, was 
afflicted with publrc calamities, the clergy and people of that 
generous nation began to reproach themselves with the un- 
christian practice of holding their fellow-men in slavery. 
Their English bondmen, though fully paid for, were, by an 
unanimous resolution of the Armagh Assembly, set at liberty. 
Their repentance dictated present restitution to the injured. 
More than six hundred years afterwards, when Mr. Wilber- 
force made his first motion for the abolition of the slave-trade, 
he was supported by every Irish member of the House of 
Commons." May God bless thee, warm-hearted, generous 
old Ireland ! 

In the English and Dutch colonies, baptism was generally 
supposed to confer freedom on the slave ; and for this reason, 
masters were reluctant to have them baptized. They got 
over this difficulty, however, and married self-interest to 
conscience, by making a law that "no slave should become 
free by being a Christian." This is a striking proof how 
closely Christianity and liberty are associated together. 

A French planter of St. Domingo, in a book which he 
published concerning that colony, admits that it is desirable 
to have negroes know enough of religion to make them 
friends to humanity, and grateful to their creator; but he 
considers it very wrong to load their weak minds with a, 
belief in supernatural dogmas, such as a belief in a future 
state. He says, "such knowledge is apt to render them 
intractable, averse to labor, and induces them to commit 
suicide on themselves and their children, of which the colony, 
the State, and commerce have equal need." 



IN DIFFERENT AGES AND NATIONS. 59 

Our slaveholders, in general, seem desirous to have the 
slave just religious enough to know that insurrections and 
murder are contrary to the maxims of Christianity ; but it 
is very difficult to have them learn just so much as this, 
without learning more. In Georgia, I have been told, that 
a very general prejudice prevails against white missionaries. 
To avoid this danger, old domestic slaves, who are better 
informed than the plantation slaves, are employed to hear 
sermons and repeat them to their brethren ; and their repe- 
titions are said to be strange samples of pulpit eloquence. 
One of these old negroes, as the story goes, told his hearers 
that the Bible said slaves ought to get their freedom ; and 
if they could not do it in any other way, they must murder 
their masters. The slaves had never been allowed to learn 
to read, and of course they could not dispute that such a 
doctrine was actually in the Scriptures. Thus do unjust 
and absurd laws " return to plague the inventor." 

Prop. 12. — Whole power of the laws exerted to keep negroes 
in ignorance. 

South Carolina made the first law upon this subject. 
While yet a province, she laid a penalty of one hundred 
pounds upon any person who taught a slave to write, or 
allowed him to be taught to write.* In Virginia, any school 
for teaching reading and writing, either to slaves, or to free 
people of color, is considered an unlawful assembly, and may 
accordingly be dispersed, and punishment administered upon 
each pupil, not exceeding twenty lashes. 

In South Carolina, the law is the same. 

The city of Savannah, in Georgia, a few }^ears ago, passed 
an ordinance, by which " any person that teaches a person 
of color, slave or free, to read or write, or causes such 
persons to be so taught, is subjected to a fine of thirty dol- 
lars for each offence ; and every person of color who shall 
teach reading or writing, is subject to a fine of thirty dollars, 
or to be imprisoned ten days and whipped thirty-nine lashes." 

From these facts it is evident that legislative power pre- 
vents a master from giving liberty and instruction to his 
slave, even when such a course would be willingly pursued 
by a benevolent individual. The laws allow almost unlim- 

* Yet it lias been said that these laws are entirely owing to the rash 
efforts of the abolitionists. 



60 COMPARATIVE VIEW OF SLAVERY, 

ited power to do mischief ; but the power to do good is 
effectually restrained. 

Prop. 13. — There is a monstrous inequality of law and right. 

In a civilized country, one would expect that if any dis- 
proportion existed in the laws, it would be in favor of the 
ignorant and defenceless ; but the reverse is lamentably the 
case here. Obedience to the laws is the price freemen pay 
for the protection of the laws ; — but the same legislatures 
which absolutely sanction the negro's wrongs, and, to say 
the least, make very inadequate provisions for his safety, 
claim the right to punish him with inordinate severity. 

" In Kentucky, white men are condemned to death for 
four crimes only ; slaves meet a similar punishment for 
eleven crimes. In South Carolina, white persons suffer death 
for twenty-seven crimes ; slaves incur a similar fate for thirty, 
six crimes. In Georgia, whites are punished capitally for 
three crimes only ; slaves for at least nine. 

Stroud says there arc seventy-one crimes in the slave 
States, for which negroes are punished with death, and for 
each and every one of these crimes the white man suffers 
nothing worse than imprisonment in the penitentiary. 

" Trial by jury is utterly denied to the slave, even in 
criminal accusations which may affect his life ; in South Car- 
olina, Virginia, and Louisiana, instead of a jury, is substi- 
tuted a tribunal composed of two justices of the peace and 
from three to five/ree-holders, (i. e. slave-holders.) In Vir 
ginia, it is composed of five justices merely. What chanco 
has an ignorant slave before a tribunal chosen by his accuser, 
suddenly convoked, and consisting of but five persons?" 

If a slave is found out of the limits of the town in which 
he lives, or beyond the plantation on which he is usually 
employed, without a written permission from his master, or 
the company of some white person, any body may inflict 
twenty lashes upon him ; and if the slave resist such punish- 
ment, he may be lawfully killed. 

If a slave visit another plantation without leave in writing 
from his master, the owner of the plantation may give him 
ten lashes. 

More than seven slaves walking or standing together in 
the road, without a white man, may receive twenty lashes 
each from any person. 

Any slave, or Indian, who takes away, or lets loose a 



IN DIFFERENT AGES AND NATIONS. 61 

boat, from any place where it is fastened, receives thirty- 
nine lashes for the first offence ; and, according to some 
laws, one ear is cut off for the second offence. 

For carrying a gun, powder, shot, a club, or any weapon 
whatsoever, offensive or defensive, thirty-nine lashes by 
order of a justice ; and in some States, twenty lashes from 
the nearest constable, without a conviction by the justice. 

For selling any article, without a specific ticket from his 
master, ten lashes by the captain of the patrollers,* or thirty- 
nine by order of a magistrate. The same punishment for 
being at any assembly deemed unlawful. 

For travelling by himself from his master's land to any 
other place, unless by the most accustomed road, forty 
lashes; the same for travelling in the night without a pass; 
the same for being found in another negro's kitchen, or 
quarters ; and every negro found in company with such 
vagrant, receives twenty lashes. 

For hunting with dogs, even in the woods of his master, 
thirty lashes. 

For running away and lurking in swamps, a negro may 
be lawfully killed by any person. If a slave happen to die 
of moderate correction, it is likewise justifiable homicide. 

For endeavoring to entice another slave to run away, if 
provisions are prepared, the slave is punished with death ; 
and any negro aiding or abetting suffers death. 

Thirty-nine stripes for harboring a runaway slave one 
hour. 

For disobeying orders, imprisonment as long as the master 
chooses. 

For riding on horseback, without written permission, or 
for keeping a. dog, twenty-five lashes. 

For rambling, riding, or going abroad in the night, or 
riding horses in the day without leave, a slave may be 
whipped, cropped, or branded on the cheek with the letter 
R, or otherwise punished, not extending to life, nor so as to 
unfit him for labor. 

For beating the Patuxent river, to catch fish, ten lashes ; 
for placing a seine across Transquakin and Chickwiccimo 
creeks, thirty-nine lashes by order of a justice. 

* The patrols are very generally low and dissipated characters, and 
the cruelties which negroes suffer from them, while in a state of intoxica- 
tion, are sometimes shocking. The law endows these men with very 
£reat power. 

6 



62 COMPARATIVE VIEW OF SLAVERY, 

For advising the murder of a person, one hundred lashes 
may be given. 

A runaway slave may be put into jail, and the jailer must 
forthwith send a letter by mail, to the man whom the negro 
says is his owner. If an answer does not arrive at the 
proper time, the jailer must inflict twenty-five lashes, well 
laid on, and interrogate anew. If the slave's second state- 
ment be not corroborated by the letter from the owner, 
twenty-five lashes are again administered. — The act very 
coolly concludes thus: "and so on, for the space of six 
months, it shall be the duty of the jailer to interrogate and 
whip as aforesaid." 

The letter may miscarry, the owner may reside at a 
great distance from the Post-Office, and thus long delays 
may occur — the ignorant slave may not know his master's 
christian name — the jailer may not spell it aright ; but no 
matter — " It is the jailer's duty to interrogate and whip, as 
aforesaid." 

The last authorized edition of the laws of Maryland, 
somprises the following : " If any slave be convicted of 
any petit treason, or murder, or wilfully burning of dwelling- 
houses, it may be lawful for the justices to give judgment 
against such slave to have the right hand cut off, to be 
hanged in the usual manner, the head severed from the 
body, the body divided into four quarters, and the head 
and quarters set up in the most public places of the coun- 
ty," &c. 

The laws of Tennessee and Missouri are comparatively 
mild ; yet in Missouri it is death to prepare or administer 
medicine without the master's consent, unless it can be proved 
that there was no evil intention. The law in Virginia is 
similar ; it requires proof that there was no evil intention, 
and that the medicine produced no bad consequences. 

To estimate fully the cruel injustice of these laws, it must 
be remembered that the poor slave is without religious in- 
struction, unable to read, too ignorant to comprehend legisla- 
tion, and holding so little communication with any person 
better informed than himself, that the chance is, he does not 
even know the existence of half the laws by which he suffers. 
This is worthy of Nero, who caused his edicts to be placed 
so high that they could not be read, and then beheaded his 
subjects for disobeying them. 



IN DIFFERENT AGES AND NATIONS. 63 

Prop. 14. — The laws operate oppressively on free colored 
people. 

Free people of color, like the slaves, are excluded by- 
law from all means of obtaining the common elements of 
education. 

The free colored man may at any time be taken up on 
suspicion, and be condemned and imprisoned as a runaway 
slave, unless he can prove the contrary; and be it remem- 
bered, none but white evidence, or written documents, avail 
him. The common law supposes a man to be innocent 
until he is proved guilty ; but slave law turns this upside 
down. Every colored man is presumed to be a slave till 
it can be proved otherwise ; this rule prevails in all the 
slave States, except North Carolina, where it is confined to 
negroes. Stephens supposes this harsh doctrine to be pe- 
culiar to the British Colonial Code ; but in this he is again 
mistaken — the American republics share the honor with 
England. 

A law passed in December, 1822, in South Carolina, pro- 
vides that any free colored persons coming into port on 
board o f * any vessel shall be seized and imprisoned during 
the stay of the vessel ; and when she is ready to depart, the 
captain shall take such free negroes and pay the expenses 
of their arrest and imprisonment ; and in case of refusing 
so to do, he shall be indicted and fined not less than one 
thousand dollars, and imprisoned not less than two months ; 
and such free negroes shall be sold for slaves. The Circuit 
Court of the United States, adjudged the law unconstitutional 
and void. Yet nearly two years after this decision, four 
colored English seamen were taken out of the brig Marmion. 
.England made a formal complaint to our government. Mr. 
Wirt, the Attorney-General, gave the opinion that the law 
was unconstitutional. This, as well as the above-mentioned 
decision, excited strong indignation in South Carolina. Not- 
withstanding the decision, the law still remains in force, and 
other States have followed the example of South Carolina, 
though with a more cautious observance of appearances. 

In South Carolina, if any free negro harbor, conceal, or 
entertain, any runaway slave, or a slave charged with any 
criminal matter, he forfeits ten pounds for the first day, and 
twenty shillings for every succeeding day. In case of ina- 
bility to pay, the free negro is sold at auction, and if any 



64 COMPARATIVE VIEW OP SLAVERY, 

overplus remain, after the fines and attendant expenses are 
paid, it is put into the hands of the public treasurer. 

The free negro may entertain a slave without knowing 
that he has done any thing wrong ; but his declaration to 
that effect is of no avail. Where every effort is made to 
prevent colored people from obtaining any money, they are 
of course often unable to pay the penalties imposed. 

If any omission is made in the forms of emancipation 
established by law, any person whatsoever may seize the 
negro so manumitted, and appropriate him to their own use. 

If a free colored person remain in Virginia twelve months 
after his manumission, he can be sold by the overseers of the 
poor for the benefit of the literary fund! 

In Georgia, a free colored man, except a regular articled 
seaman, is fined one hundred dollars for coming into the 
State ; and if he cannot pay it, may be sold at public outcry. 
This act has been changed to one of increased severity. 
A free colored person cannot be a witness against a white 
man. They may therefore be i*obbed, assaulted, kidnapped 
and carried off with impunity; and even the legislatures 
of the old slave States adopt it as a maxim that it is vety 
desirable to get rid of them. It is of no avail to declare 
themselves free ; the law presumes them to be slaves, unless, 
they can prove to the contrary. In many instances written 
documents of freedom have been wrested from free colored 
people and destroyed by kidnappers. A lucrative internal 
slave-trade furnishes constant temptation to the commission 
of such crimes; and the new States of Alabama, Mississippi, 
Missouri, and the territories of Arkansas, and the Floridas, 
are not likely to be glutted for years to come. 

In Philadelphia, though remote from a slave market, it 
has been ascertained that more than thirty free persons of 
color, were stolen and carried off within two years. Stroud 
says : " Five of these have been restored to their friends, 
by the interposition of humane gentlemen, though not with- 
out great expense and difficulty. The others are still in 
bondage ; and if rescued at all, it must be by sending white 
witnesses a journey of more than a thousand miles." 

I know the names of four colored citizens of Massachu- 
setts, who went to Georgia on board a vessel, were seized 
under the laws of that State, and sold as slaves. They 
have sent the most earnest exhortations to their families and 
friends to do something for their relief; but the attendant 



IN DIFFERENT AGES AND NATIONS. 65 

expenses require more money than the friends of negroes are 
apt to have, and the poor fellows as yet remain unassisted. 

A New- York paper, November, 1829, contains the fol- 
lowing caution : 

" Beware of kidnappers ! — It is well understood that there 
is at present in this city, a gang of kidnappers, busily en- 
gaged in their vocation of stealing colored children for the 
Southern market ! It is believed that three or four have 
been stolen within as many days. A little negro boy came 
to this city from the country three or four days ago. Some 
strange white persons were very friendly to him, and yester- 
day morning he was mightily pleased that they had given him 
some new clothes. And the persons pretending thus to be- 
friend him, entirely secured his confidence. This day he 
cannot be found. Nor can he be traced since seen with 
one of his new friends yesterday. There are suspicions of 
a foul nature, connected with some who serve the police in 
subordinate capacities. It is hinted that there may be those 
in some authority, not altogether ignorant of these diabol- 
ical practices. Let the public be on their guard ! It is still 
fresh in the memories of all, that a cargo, or rather drove, 
of negroes, was made up from this city and Philadelphia, 
about the time that the emancipation of all the negroes in 
this State took place under our present constitution, and were 
taken through Virginia, the Carolinas, and Tennessee, and 
disposed of in the State of Mississippi. Some of those who 
were taken from Philadelphia were persons of intelligence, 
and after they had been driven through the country in chains, 
and disposed of by sale on the Mississippi, wrote back to 
their friends, and were rescued from bondage. The persons 
who were guilty of this abominable transaction are known, 
and now reside in North Carolina ; they may, very prob- 
ably, be engaged in similar enterprises at the present time — 
at least there is reason to believe that the system of kidnap- 
ping free persons of color from the Northern cities has been 
carried on more extensively than the public are generally 
aware of." 

This, and other evils of the system, admit of no radical 
cure but the utter extinction of slavery. To enact laws 
prohibiting the slave traffic, and at the same time tempt ava- 
rice by the allurements of an insatiable market, is irrecon- 
cilable and absurd. 

To my great surprise, I find that the free States of Ohio 
6* 



66 COMPARATIVE VIEW OF SLAVERY, 

and Indiana disgrace themselves by admitting the same 
maxim of law, which prevents any black or mulatto from 
being a witness against a white man ! 

It is naturally supposed that free negroes will sympathize 
with their enslaved brethren, and that, notwithstanding all 
exertions to the contrary, they will become a little more in- 
telligent ; this excites a peculiar jealousy and hatred in the 
white population, of which it is impossible to enumerate all 
the hardships. Even in the laws, slaves are always men- 
tioned before free people of color; so desirous are they to 
degrade the latter class below the level of the former. To 
complete the wrong, this unhappy class are despised in con- 
sequence of the very evils we ourselves have induced — for 
as slavery inevitably makes its victims servile and vicious, 
and as none but negroes are allowed to be slaves, we, from 
our very childhood, associate every thing that is degraded 
with the mere color ; though in fact the object of our con- 
tempt may be both exemplary and intelligent. In this way 
the Africans are doubly the victims of our injustice; and 
thus does prejudice " make the meat it feeds on." 

I have repeatedly said that our slave laws are continually 
increasing in severity ; as a proof of this I will give a brief 
view of some of the most striking, which have been passed 
since Stroud published his compendium of slave laws, in 1827. 
In the first class are contained those enactments directly op- 
pressive to people of color ; in the second are those which 
injure them indirectly, by the penalties or disabilities imposed 
upon the whites who instruct, assist, or employ them, or en- 
deavor in any way to influence public opinion in their favor. 

Class First. — The Legislature of Virginia passed a law 
in 1831, by which any free colored person who undertakes 
to preach, or conduct any religious meeting, by day or night, 
may be whipped not exceeding thirty-nine lashes, at the dis- 
cretion of any justice of the peace ; and any body may ap- 
prehend any such free colored person without a warrant. 
The same penalty, adjudged and executed in the same way. 
falls upon any slave, or free colored person, who attends 
such preaching; and any slave who listens to any white 
preacher, in the night time, receives the same punishment. 
The same law prevails in Georgia and Mississippi. A mas- 
ter may permit a slave to preach on his plantation, to none 
but his slaves. 

There is a naivete in the following preamble to a law 



IN DIFFERENT AGES AND NATIONS. 67 

passed by North Carolina, in 1831, which would be amus- 
ing, if the subject were not too serious for mirth : " Whereas 
teaching slaves to read and write has a tendency to excite 
dissatisfaction in their minds, and to produce insurrection 
and rebellion," therefore it is enacted that teaching a slave 
to read or write, or giving or selling to a slave any book 
or pamphlet, shall be punished with thirty-nine lashes, if 
the offender be a free black, or with imprisonment at the 
discretion of the court ; if a slave, the offence is punishable 
with thirty-nine lashes, on his or her bare back, on convic- 
tion before a justice of the peace. 

In Georgia, any slave, or free person of color, is for a 
similar offence, fined or whipped, or fined and whipped, at 
the discretion of the court. 

In Louisiana, twelve months' imprisonment is the penalty 
for teaching a slave to read or write. 

For publishing, or circulating, in the State of North Car- 
olina, any pamphlet or paper having an evident tendency to 
excite slaves, or free persons of color, to insurrection or re- 
sistance, imprisonment not less than one year, and standing 
in the pillory, and whipping, at the discretion of the court, 
for the first offence ; and death for the second. The same 
offence punished with death in Georgia, without any reser- 
vation. In Mississippi, the same as in Georgia. In Louis- 
iana, the same offence punished either with imprisonment for 
life, or death, at the discretion of the court. In Virginia, 
the first offence of this sort is punished with thirty-nine lashes, 
the second with death. 

With regard to publications having a tendency to promote 
discontent among slaves, their masters are so very jealous, 
that it would be difficult to find any book, that would not 
come under their condemnation. The Bible, and the Dec- 
laration of Independence are certainly unsafe. The pre- 
amble to the North Carolina law declares, that the Alphabet 
has a tendency to excite dissatisfaction ; I suppose it is be- 
cause freedom may be spelt out of it. A storekeeper in 
South Carolina was nearly ruined by having unconsciously 
imported certain printed handkerchiefs, which his neighbors 
deemed seditious. A friend of mine asked, " Did the hand- 
kerchiefs contain texts from scripture? or quotations from 
the Constitution of the United States ?" 

Emancipated slaves must quit North Carolina in ninety 
days after their enfranchisement, on pain of being sold for 



68 COMPARATIVE VIEW OF SLAVERY, 

life. Free persons of color who shall migrate into that State, 
may be seized and sold as runaway slaves; and if they 
migrate out of the State for more than ninety days, they can 
never return under the same penalty. 

This extraordinary use of the word migrate furnishes a 
new battering ram against the free colored class, which is 
every where so odious to slave-owners. A visit to relations 
in another State may be called migrating; being taken up 
and detained by kidnappers, over ninety days, may be called 
migrating ; — for where neither the evidence of the sufferer 
nor any of his own color is allowed, it will evidently amount 
to this. 

In South Carolina, if a free negro cross the line of the 
State, he can never return. 

In 1831, Mississippi passed a law to expel all free colored 
persons under sixty and over sixteen years of age from the 
State, within ninety days, unless they could prove good char- 
acters, and obtain from the court a certificate of the same, 
for which they paid three dollars ; these certificates might 
be revoked at the discretion of the county courts. If such 
persons do not quit the State within the time specified, or if 
they return to it, they may be sold for a term not exceeding 
five years. 

In Tennessee, slaves are not allowed to be emancipated 
unless they leave the State forthwith. Any free colored 
person emigrating into this State, is fined from ten to fifty 
dollars, and hard labor in the penitentiary from one to two 
years. 

North Carolina has made a law subjecting any vessel with 
free colored persons on board to thirty days' quarantine ; 
as if freedom were as bad as the cholera ! Any person of 
color coming on shore from such vessels is seized and im- 
prisoned, till the vessel departs ; and the captain is fined five 
hundred dollars ; and if he refuse to take the colored seaman 
away, and pay all the expenses of his imprisonment, he is 
fined five hundred more. If the sailor do not depart within 
ten days after his captain's refusal, he must be whipped 
thirty-nine lashes ; and all colored persons, bond or free, 
who communicate with him, receive the same. 

In Georgia, there is a similar enactment. The prohibi- 
tion is, in both States, confined to merchant vessels, (it would 
be imprudent to meddle with vessels of war ;) and any col- 
ored person communicating with such seaman is whipped 



IN DIFFERENT AGES AND NATIONS. 69 

not exceeding thirty lashes. If the captain refuse to carry- 
away seamen thus detained, and pay the expenses of their 
imprisonment, he shall be fined five hundred dollars, and also 
imprisoned, not exceeding three months. 

These State laws are a direct violation of the Laws of 
Nations, and our treaties; and may involve the United States 
in a foreign war. 

Colored seamen are often employed in Spanish, Portu- 
guese, French, and English vessels. These nations are bound 
to know the United States Laws ; but can they be expected 
to know the enactments of particular States and cities? and 
if they know them, are they bound to observe them, if they 
interfere with the established rules of nations ? Wh n Mr. 
Wirt pronounced these laws unconstitutional, great c scite- 
ment was produced in South Carolina. The Governor of 
that Stare, in his Message to the Legislature, implied that 
separation from the Union was the only remedy, if the laws 
of the Southern States could not be enforced. They seem 
to require unconditional submission abroad as well as at home. 

The endeavor to prevent insurrections in this way, is as 
wise as to attempt to extinguish fire with spirits of wine. 
The short-sighted policy defeats itself. A free colored sai- 
lor was lately imprisoned with seven slaves : Here was a 
fine opportunity to sow the seeds of sedition in their minds ! 

The upholders of slavery will in vain contend with the 
liberal spirit of the age ; it is too strong for them. They 
may as well try to bottle up the sunshine for their own ex- 
clusive use, as to attempt to keep knowledge and freedom 
to themselves. We all know that such an experiment would 
result in bottling up darkness for themselves, while exactly 
the same amount of sunshine remained abroad for the use 
of their neighbors. 

In North Carolina, free negroes are whipped, fined, and 
imprisoned, at the discretion of the court, for intermarrying 
with slaves. 

In Georgia, free colored persons when unable to pay any 
fine, may be sold for a space of time not exceeding five years. 
This limitation does not probably avail much ; if sold to an- 
other master before the five years expired, they would never 
be likely to be free again. 

Several other laws have been passed in Georgia, prohib- 
iting slaves from living apart from their master, either to 
labo- for other persons, or to sell refreshments, or to carry 



*0 COMPARATIVE VIEW OF SLAVERY, 

on any trade or business although with their master's con- 
sent. Any person of color, bond or free, is forbidden to 
occupy any tenement except a kitchen or an outhouse, under 
penalty of from twenty to fifty lashes. Some of these laws 
are applicable only to particular cities, towns^ or counties; 
others to several counties. 

Sundry general laws of a penal nature have been made 
more penal ; and the number of offences, for which a colored 
person may suffer death, is increased. 

A law passed in Tennessee, in 1831, provides that negroes 
for conspiracy to rebel, shall be punished with whipping, im. 
prisonment and pillory, at the discretion of the court; it has 
this c irious proviso — " Householders may serve as jurors, if 
slaveholders cannot be had!"* The Southern courts need 
to have a great deal of discretion, since so much is trusted 
to it. 

Class Second. — In Virginia, white persons who teach any 
colored person to read or write, are fined not exceeding fifty 
dollars ; for teaching slaves for pay, from ten to twenty dol- 
lars for each offence. 

In Georgia, a similar offence is fined not exceeding five 
hundred dollars, ar d imprisoned at the discretion of the court. 
Knowledge seems to be peculiarly pokerish in Georgia. 

In North Carolina, if a white person teach a slave to read 
or write, or give or sell him any book, &c, he is fined from 
one to two hundred dollars. 

In Louisiana, any white person, who teaches a slave to 
read or write, is imprisoned one year. And if any person 
shall use any language from the bar, bench, stage, pulpit, 
or any other place, — or hold any conversation having a 
tendency to promote discontent among free colored people, 
or insubordination among slaves, he may be imprisoned at 
hard labor, not less than three, nor more than twenty-one 
years ; or he may suffer death— at the discretion of the court. 

In Mississippi, a white man, who prints or circulates doc- 
trines, sentiments, advice, or innuendoes, likely to produce 
discontent among the colored class, is fined from one hun- 
dred to a thousand dollars, and imprisoned from three to 
twelve months. 

All the States which have pronounced an anathema against 

* The Common Law assigns for the trial of a foreigner, six jurors of 
his own nation, and six native Englishmen. 



IN DIFFERENT AGES AND NATIONS. 71 

books and alphabets, have likewise forbidden that any col- 
ored man shall be employed in a printing-office, under the 
penalty of ten dollars for every offence. 

In Mississippi, any white who employs, or receives a free 
colored person, without a certificate of freedom, written on 
parchment, forfeits one thousand dollars. 

If any master, in that State, allows his slaves to sell any 
wares or merchandise out of the incorporated towns, he is 
liable to a fine of from fifty to five hundred dollars. 

In Virginia, any person who buys of a slave any article 
belonging to his master, forfeits from ten to fifty dollars ; 
if the purchase be made on Sunday, ten dollars more are 
added to the fine for each article. 

This enactment is evidently made to prevent a slave from 
obtaining any money, or holding communication with free- 
men ; a particular proviso is made against Sunday, because 
.he slave has usually more leisure on that day. It is to be 
remembered that all a slave has belongs to his master. 

To carry a slave out of North Carolina, or conceal him 
with intent to carry him out, is punished with death. 

If a runaway slave die in prison, before he or she can be 
sold, the county pays the sheriff and jailer ; formerly these 
officers depended on the life and marketableness of their 
prisoners for security ; but even this poor motive for kind- 
ness is now taken away. If ninety-nine out of a hundred 
die in prison, they will be heard of only in the jailer'' s bill. 
I never heard or read of an inquest upon the body of a 
slave found dead. Under the term " runaway slaves" are 
included many free colored persons taken up unjustly. 

Well might Jefferson say, " I tremble for my country, 
when I reflect that God is just !" 

In travelling over this dreary desert, it is pleasant to arrive 
at one little oasis : Louisiana has enacted that slaves brought 
into that State for sale, shall forthwith be set free ; but they 
must be sent out of the State. 

It is worthy of remark that England pursues a totally 
different course with regard to allowing slaves to communi- 
cate with free people. Their recent laws are all calculated 
to make it easy for the slave to obtain a fair hearing from 
people who have no interest to suppress his complaints. 
He may go upon any plantation, and communicate with any 
person ; and whoever tries to prevent his going to a magis- 
trate is guilty of a misdemeanor. 



72 COMPARATIVE VIEW OF SLAVERY, 

They have abolished all distinction between white and 
colored witnesses. 

The law expressly stipulates the quality and quantity of 
provisions. 

Inquest is held upon the bodies of slaves dying suddenly, 
or from any suspected violence. 

Use of the cart- whip prohibited ; and no female to be 
punished except by order of the court. 

Only fifteen lashes allowed as a punishment to men for 
one offence, and in one day : two kinds of punishment never 
allowed for one offence. 

When a slave is punished, two competent witnesses must 
be present. 

The owner is obliged to keep a record of domestic pun- 
ishments and the causes. 

Marriages among slaves are encouraged, and husband and 
wife are not allowed to be sold separately. Children under 
sixteen years old cannot be separated from their parents. 

Masters illegally punishing their slaves, are subject to fine, 
imprisonment, and loss of the slave, for the first offence; 
for the second offence, sequestration of all their slaves. 

Free colored representatives are allowed to take their 
seats m the legislature, and share all the other privileges of 
British subjects. 

Yet these humane laws, so carefully framed in favor of 
the defenceless, have been found insufficient to protect the 
slave. Experience proves, what reason clearly points out, 
that the force of good laws must be weakened by the very 
nature of this unholy relation. Where there is knowledge 
and freedom on one side, and ignorance and servitude on 
the other, evasions and subterfuges will of course be frequent. 
Hence English philanthropists have universally come to the 
conclusion that nothing effectual can be done, unless slavery 
itself be destroyed. 

The limits of this work compel me to pass by many 
enactments in our slaveholding States, which would throw 
still more light on this dark subject. 

I have laid open some of the laws which do actually exist, 
and are constantly enforced in this free country ; and know- 
ing all this, and still more, to be true, I blush and hang my 
head, whenever I hear any one boast of our " glorious in- 
stitutions." 

The slaveholders insist that their humanity is so great, 



IN DIFFERENT AGES AND NATIONS. 73 

as to render all their ferocious laws perfectly harmless. 
Are the laws then made on purpose to urge tender-hearted 
masters to be so much worse than they really desire to be ? 
The democrats of the South appear to be less scrupulous 
about the liberties of others, than the Autocrat of the Rus- 
sias ; — for, when Madame de Stael told the Emperor Alex- 
ander that his character answered instead of a constitution 
for his country, he replied, " Then, madam, I am but a 
lucky accident" How much more emphatically may it be 
said, that the slave's destiny is a matter of chance ! Reader, 
would you trust the very best man you know, with your 
time, your interests, your family, and your life, unless the 
contract were guarded on every side by the strong arm of 
the law ? If a money-loving neighbor could force you to toil, 
and could gain a certain number of dollars for every hour 
of your labor, how much rest should you expect to have ? 

It is utter nonsense to say that generosity of disposition 
is a protection against tyranny, where all the power is on 
one side. It may be, and it no doubt is so, in particular 
instances ; but they must be exceptions to the general rule. 

We all know that the Southerners have a high sense of 
what the world calls honor, and that they are brave, hos- 
pitable, and generous to people of their own color ; but the 
more we respect their virtues, the more cause is there to 
lament the demoralizing system, which produces such un- 
happy effects on all who come within its baneful influence. 
Most of them may be as kind as can be expected of human 
nature, endowed with almost unlimited power to do wrong ; 
and some of them may be even more benevolent than the 
warmest friend of the negro would dare to hope ; but while 
we admit all this, we must not forget that there is in every 
community a class of men, who will not be any better than 
the laws compel them to be. 

Captain Riley, in his Narrative, says : " Strange as it 
may seem to the philanthropist, my free and proud-spirited 
countrymen still hold a million and a half* of human beings 
in the most cruel bonds of slavery ; who are kept at hard 
labor, and smarting under the lash of inhuman mercenary 
drivers ; in many instances enduring the miseries of hunger, 
thirst, imprisonment, cold, nakedness, and even tortures. 
This is no picture of the imagination. For the honor of 

* There are now over two million. 

7 



?4 COMPARATIVE VIEW OF SLAVERY, 

human nature, I wish likenesses were nowhere to be found ! 
I myself have witnessed such scenes in different parts of my 
own country ; and the bare recollection of them now chilla 
my blood with horror." 

When the slave-owners talk of their gentleness and com- 
passion, they are witnesses in their own favor, and have 
strong motives for showing the fairest side. But what do 
the laws themselves imply? Are enactments ever made 
against exigencies which do not exist ? If negroes have never 
been scalded, burned, mutilated, &c, why are such crimes 
forbidden by an express law, with the marvellous proviso, 
except said slave die of " moderate punishment !" If a law 
sanctioning whipping to any extent, incarceration at the 
discretion of the master, and the body loaded with irons, is 
called a restraining law, let me ask what crimes must have 
been committed, to require prohibition, where so much is 
allowed ? The law which declares that slaves shall be com- 
pelled to labor only fourteen or fifteen hours a day, has the 
following preamble : " Whereas Many owners of slaves, 
managers, &c. do confine them so closely to hard labor that 
they have not sufficient time for natural rest," &c. Mr. 
Pinckney, in a public argument, speaking of slaves mur- 
dered by severe treatment, says : " The frequency of the 
crime is no doubt owing to the nature of the punishment." 
The reader will observe that I carefully refrain from quoting 
the representations of party spirit, and refer to facts only 
for evidence. 

Where the laws are made by the people, a majority of 
course approve them ; else they would soon be changed. 
It must therefore in candor be admitted, that the laws of a 
State speak the prevailing sentiments of the inhabitants. 

Judging by this rule, what inference must be drawn from 
the facts stated above 1 " At Sparta, the freeman is the 
freest of all men, and the slave is the greatest of slaves." 

Our republic is a perfect Pandora's box to the negro, 
only there is no hope at the bottom. The wretchedness of 
his fate is not a little increased by being a constant witness 
of the unbounded freedom enjoyed by others : the slave's 
labor must necessarily be like the labor of Sisiphus ; and 
here the torments of Tantalus are added. 

Slavery is so inconsistent with free institutions, and the 
spirit of liberty is so contagious under such institutions, that 
the system must either be given up, or sustained by laws 



IN DIFFERENT AGES AND NATIONS. 75 

outrageously severe; hence we find that our slave laws 
have each year been growing more harsh than those of any- 
other nation. 

Shall I be told that all these regulations are necessary 
for the white man's safety? What then, let me indignantly 
ask, what must the system be that requires to be supported by 
such unnatural, such tyrannical means? The very apology 
pronounces the condemnation of slavery — for it proves that 
it cannot exist without producing boundless misery to the 
oppressed, and perpetual terror to the oppressor. 

In our fourth of July orations, we are much in the habit 
of talking about the tyranny of England ! and there is no 
doubt that broad and deep stains do rest upon her history. 
But there is a vulgar proverb that " those who live in glass 
houses should not throw stones." In judging of national, 
as well as individual wrong, it is fair to consider the amount 
of temptation. England has had power, more extensive and 
permanent than any nation since the decline of Rome : the 
negroes and the Indians are the only people who have been 
dependant on our justice and generosity — and how have we 
treated them 1 

It is a favorite argument that we are not to blame for 
slavery, because the British engrafted it upon us, while we 
were colonies. But did we not take the liberty to change 
English laws and customs, when they did not suit us ? Why 
not put away this, as well as other evils of much less con- 
sequence ? It could have been done easily, at the time of 
our confederation ; it can be done now. — Have not other 
nations been making alterations for the better, on this very 
subject, since we became independent ? Is not England 
trying with all her might to atone for the wrong she has 
done ? Does not the constitution of the United States, and 
the constitution of each individual State, make provision for 
such changes as shall tend to the public good ? 

The plain truth is, the continuation of this system is a sin; 
and the sin rests upon us : It has been eloquently said that 
" by this excuse, we try to throw the blame upon our ances- 
tors, and leave repentance to posterity." 



76 FREE LABOR ANL SLAV" LA DOR. 



CHAPTER III. 

FREE LABOR AND SLAVE LABOR.— POSSIBILITY OF SAFE 
EMANCIPATION. 



Wo unto him that useth his neighbor's service without wages, and giveth 1 
ot for his work. — Jeremiah xxii, 13. 

Who can reflect, unmoved, upon the round 
Of smooth and solemnized complacences, 
By which, on Christian lands, from age to age, 
Profession mocks performance. Earth is sick. 
And Heaven is weary, of the hollow words, 
Which states and kingdoms utter when they talk 
Of truth and justice. 

WOBDSWOBTH 



Political economists found their systems on those broad 
and general principles, the application of which has been 
proved by reason and experience to produce the greatest 
possible happiness to the greatest number of people. All 
writers of this class, I believe without exception, prefer free 
labor to slave labor. 

Indeed a very brief glance will show that slavery is in- 
consistent with economy, whether domestic or political. 

The slave is bought, sometimes at a very high price ; in 
free labor there is no such investment of capital. When the 
slave is ill, a physician must be paid by the owner ; the free 
laborer defrays his own expenses. The children of the slave 
must be supported by his master ; the free man maintains 
his own. The slave is to be taken care of in his old age, 
which his previous habits render peculiarly helpless; the 
free laborer is hired when he is wanted, and then returns to 
his home. The slave does not care how slowly or care- 
lessly he works ; it is the free man's interest to do his busi- 
ness well and quickly. The slave is indifferent how many 
tools he spoils ; the free man has a motive to be careful. 
The slave's clothing is indeed very cheap, but it is of no con- 
sequence to him how fast it is destroyed — his master must 
keep him covered, and that is all he is likely to do ; the 
hired laborer pays more for his garments, but makes them 



FREE LABOR AND SLAVE LABOR. 77 

last three times as long. The free man will be honest for 
reputation's sake ; but reputation will make the slave none 
the richer, nor invest him with any of the privileges of a hu- 
man being — while his poverty and sense of wrong both urge 
him to steal from his master. A salary must be paid to an 
overseer to compel the slave to work ; the free man is im- 
pelled by the desire of increasing the comforts of himself and 
family. Two hired laborers will perform as much work as 
three slaves ; by some it is supposed to be a more correct 
estimate that slaves perform only half as much labor as the 
same number of free laborers. Finally, where slaves are 
employed, manual industry is a degradation to white people, 
and indolence becomes the prevailing characteristic. 

Slaveowners have indeed frequently shown great adroit- 
ness in defending this bad system ; but, with few exceptions, 
they base their arguments upon the necessity of continuing 
slavery because it is already begun. Many of them have 
openly acknowledged that it was highly injurious to the pros- 
perity of the State. 

The Hon. Henry Clay, in his address before the Coloni- 
zation Society of Kentucky, has given a view of the causes 
affecting, and likely to affect, slavery in this country, which 
is very remarkable for its completeness, its distinctness, and 
its brevity. The following sentences are quoted from this 
address: " As a mere laborer, the slave feels that he toils 
for his master, and not for himself; that the laws do not 
recognise his capacity to acquire and hold property, which 
depends altogether upon the pleasure of his proprietor, and 
that all the fruits of his exertions are reaped by others. He 
knows that, whether sick or well, in times of scarcity or 
abundance, his master is bound to provide for him by the all- 
powerful influence of self-interest. He is generally, there- 
fore, indifferent to the adverse or prosperous fortunes of his 
master, being contented if he can escape his displeasure or 
chastisement, by a careless and slovenly performance of his 
duties. 

"This is the state of the relation between master and slave, 
prescribed by the law of its nature, and founded in the rea- 
son of things. There are undoubtedly many exceptions, in 
which the slave dedicates himself to his master with a zeal- 
ous and generous devotion, and the master to the slave with 
a parental and affectionate attachment. But it is my pur- 
pose to speak of the general state of this unfortunate relation. 

7* 



78 FREE LABOR AND SLAVE LABOR. 

" That labor is best, in which the laborer knows that he 
will derive the profits of his industry, that his employment 
depends upon his diligence, and his reward upon this assi 
duity. He then has every motive to excite him to exertion, 
and to animate him in perseverance. He knows that if he 
is treated badly, he can exchange his employer for one who 
will better estimate his service ; and that whatever he earns 
is his, to be distributed by himself as he pleases, among his 
wife and children, and friends, or enjoyed by himself. In 
a word, he feels that he is a free agent, with rights, and priv- 
ileges, and sensibilities. 

" Wherever the option exists to employ, at an equal hire, 
free or slave labor, the former will be decidedly preferred, 
for the reasons already assigned. It is more capable, more 
diligent, more faithful, and in every respect more worthy of 
confidence. 

"It is believed that nowhere in the farming portion of the 
United States would slave labor be generally employed, if 
the proprietor were not tempted to raise slaves by the high 
price of the Southern market, which keeps it up in his own." 

Speaking of an attempt more than thirty-five years ago, 
to adopt gradual emancipation in Kentucky, Mr. Clay says : 
" We were overpowered by numbers, and submitted to the 
decision of the majority, with the grace which the minority, 
in a republic, should ever yield to such a decision. I have 
nevertheless never ceased, and never shall cease, to regret 
a decision, the effects of which have been, to place us in the 
rear of our neighbors, who are exempt from slavery, in the 
state of agriculture, the progress of manufactures, the ad- 
vance of improvement, and the general prosperity of society." 

Mr. Appleton, in his reply to Mr. McDuffie in the winter 
of 1832,— a speech distinguished for its good temper and 
sound practical sense, — says : " I do not think the gentle- 
man from South Carolina has overrated the money price of 
New-England labor at fifty cents ; but most of the labor is 
performed by the owners of the soil. It is great industry 
alone, which makes New-England prosperous. The cir- 
cumstance that with this cheap slave labor, the South is com- 
plaining of suffering, while the North is content and pros- 
perous with dear free labor, is a striking fact and deserves a 
careful and thorough examination. The experience of all 
ages and nations proves that high wages are the most pow. 
erful stimulus to exertion, and the best means of attaching 



FREE LABOR AND SLAVE LABOR. 79 

the people to the institutions under which they live. It is ap. 
parent that this political effect upon the character of society 
cannot have any action upon slaves. Having no choice or 
volition, there is nothing for stimulus to act upon ; they are 
in fact no part of society. So that, in the language of po- 
litical economy, they are, like machinery, merely capital ; 
and the productions of their labor consists wholly of profits 
of capital. But it is not perceived how the tariff can lessen 
the value of the productions of their labor, in comparison 
with that of the other States. New-York and Virginia both 
produce wheat ; New- York with dear labor is content, and 
Virginia with cheap labor is dissatisfied. 

" What is the occupation of the white population of the 
planting States ? I am at a loss to know how this popula- 
tion is employed. We hear of no products of these States, 
but those produced by slave labor. It is clear the white 
population cannot be employed in raising cotton o; tobacco, 
because in doing so they can earn but twelve and a half 
cents per day, since the same quantity of labor performed 
by a slave is worth no more. I am told also that the wages 
of overseers, mechanics, &c. are higher than the white labor 
of the North ; and it is well known that many mechanics go 
from the North to the South, to get employment during the 
winter. These facts suggest the inquiry whether '■ his cheap 
slave labor docs not paralyze the industry of the whites ? 
Whether idleness is not the greatest of their evils ? J> 

During the famous debate in the Virginia Legislature, in 
the winter of 1832, Mr. Brodnax made the following remark : 
" That slavery in Virginia is an evil, and a transcendent 
evil, it would be more than idle for any human being to doubt 
or deny. It is a mildew which has blighted every region it 
has touched, from the creation of the world. Illustrations 
from the history of other countries and other times might be 
instructive and profitable, had we the time to review them ; 
but we have evidence tending to the same conviction nearer 
at hand and accessible to daily observation, in the short his- 
tories of the different States of this great confederacy, which 
are impressive in their admonitions and conclusive in their 
character." 

During the same session, Mr. Faulkner of Virginia said : 
"Sir, I am gratified to perceive that no gentleman has yet 
risen in this hall, the avowed advocate of slavery. The day 
has gone by, when such a voice could be listened to with 



80 FREE LABOR AND SLAVE LABOR. 

patience, or even forbearance. I even regret, sir, that we 
should find one amongst us, who enters the lists as its apol. 
ogisz, except on the ground of uncontrolable necessity. If 
there be one, who concurs with the gentleman from Bruns- 
wicK (Mr. Gholson) in the harmless character of this insti- 
tution, let me request him to compare the condition of the 
slaveholding portion of this Commonwealth — barren, deso- 
late, and seared as it were by the avenging hand of Heaven, 
— with the descriptions which we have of this same country 
from those who first broke its virgin soil. To what is this 
change ascribable? Alone to the withering and blasting 
effects of slavery. If this does not satisfy him, let me re- 
quest him to extend his travels to the Northern States of this 
Union, — and beg him to contrast the happiness and content- 
ment which prevails throughout the country — the busy and 
cheerful sounds of industry — the rapid and swelling growth 
of their population — their means and institutions of education 
— their skill and proficiency in the useful arts — their enter- 
prise and public spirit — the monuments of their commercial 
and manufacturing industry; — and, above all, their devoted 
attachment to the government from which they derive their 
protection, with the division, discontent, indolence, and pov- 
erty of the Southern country. To what, sir, is all this as- 
cribable? To that vice in the organization of society, by 
which one half of its inhabitants are arrayed in interest and 
feeling against the other half — to that unfortunate state of 
society in which freemen regard labor as disgraceful — and 
slaves shrink from it as a burden tyranically imposed upon 
them — to that condition of things, in which half a million of 
your population can feel no sympathy with the society in 
the prosperity of which they are forbidden to participate, 
and no attachment to a government at whose hands they 
receive nothing but injustice. 

" If this should not be sufficient, and the curious and in- 
credulous inquirer should suggest that the contrast which 
has been adverted to, and is so manifest, might be traced to 
a difference of climate, or other causes distinct from slavery 
itself, permit me to refer him to the two States of Kentucky 
and Ohio. No difference of soil — no diversity of climate — 
no diversity in the original settlement of those two States, 
can account for the remarkable disproportion in their national 
advancement. Separated by a river alone, they seem to have 
been purposely and providentially designed to exhibit in their 



FREE LABOR AND SLAVE LABOR. 81 

future histories the difference, which necessarily results from 
a country free from, and a country afflicted with, the curse 
of slavery. The same may be said of the two States of 
Missouri and Illinois. 

" Slavery, it is admitted, is an evil — it is an institution 
which presses heavily against the best interests of the State. 
It banishes free white labor — it exterminates the mechanic — 
the artisan — the manufacturer. It deprives them of occu- 
pation. It deprives them of bread. It converts the en- 
ergy of a community into indolence — its power into imbe- 
cility — its efficiency into weakness. Sir, being thus injuri- 
ous, have we not a right to demand its extermination ! Shall 
society suffer, that the slavehold 3r may continue to gather 
his vigintial crop of human flesh? What is his mere pe- 
cuniary claim, compared with the great interests of the com- 
mon weal? Must the country languish and die, that the 
slaveholder may flourish? Shall all interest be subservient 
to one ? — all rights subordinate to those of the slaveholder ? 
Has not the mechanic — have not the middle classes their 
rights? — rights incompatible with the existence of slavery ?" 

Sutcliff, in his Travels in North America, says : " A 
person not conversant with these things would naturally 
think that where families employ a number of slaves, every 
thing about their houses, gardens, and plantations, would be 
kept in the best order. But the reverse of this is generally 
the case. I was sometimes tempted to think that the more 
slaves there were employed, the more disorder appeared. 
I am persuaded that one or two hired servants, in a well- 
regulated family, would preserve more neatness, order, and 
comfort, than treble the number of slaves. 

" There is a very striking contrast between the appear- 
ance of the horses or teams in Pennsylvania, and those in 
the Southern States, where slaves are kept. In Pennsylvania 
we meet with great numbers of wagons, drawn by four or 
more fine fat horses, the carriages firm and well made, and 
covered with stout good linen, bleached almost white ; and 
it is not uncommon to see ten or fifteen together, travelling 
cheerfully along the road, the driver riding on one of his 
horses. Many of these come more than three hundred 
miles to Philadelphia, from the Ohio, Pittsburg, and other 
places; and I have been told by a respectable friend, a 
native of Philadelphia, that more than one thousand covereu 
carriages frequently come to Philadelphia market." 



IKi FREE LABOR AND SLAVE LABOR. 

" The appearance of things in the slave States is quite the 
reverse of this. We sometimes meet a ragged black boy 
or girl driving a team, consisting of a lean cow or a mule, 
sometimes a lean bull, or an ox and a mule ; and I have seen 
a mule, a bull, and a cow, each miserable in its appearance, 
composing one team, with a half-naked black slave or two, 
riding or driving, as occasion suited. The carriage or wagon, 
if it maybe called such, appeared in as wretched a condition 
as the team and its driver. Sometimes a couple of horses, 
mules, or cows, &c, would be dragging a hogshead of tobacco, 
with a pivot, or axle, driven into each end of the hogshead, 
and something like a shaft attached, by which it was drawn, 
or rolled along the road. I have seen two oxen and two 
slaves pretty fully employed in getting along a single hogs- 
head ; and some of these come from a great distance inland." 

The inhabitants of free States are often told that they can- 
not argue fairly upon the subject of slavery because they 
know nothing about its actual operation ; and any expression 
of their opinions and feelings with regard to the system, is 
attributed to ignorant enthusiasm, fanatical benevolence, or 
a wicked intention to do mischief. 

But Mr. Clay, Mr. Brodnax, and Mr. Faulkner, belong 
to slaveholding States ; and the two former, if I mistake 
not, are slave-owners. They surely are qualified to judge 
of the system ; and I might fill ten pages with other quota- 
tions from southern writers and speakers, who acknowledge 
that slavery is a great evil. There are zealous partisans 
indeed, who defend the system strenuously, and some of 
them very eloquently. Thus, Mr. Hayne, in his reply to 
Mr. Webster, denied that the south suffered in consequence 
of slavery ; he maintained that the slaveholding States were 
prosperous, and the principal cause of all the prosperity in 
the Union. He laughed at the idea of any danger, however 
distant, from an overgrown slave population, and supported 
the position by the fact that slaves had always been kept in 
entire subjection in the British West Indies, where the white 
population is less than ten per cent, of the whole. But the 
distinguished gentleman from South Carolina did not mention 
that the peace establishment of the British West Indies costs 
England two million pounds annually ! Yet such is the fact. 
This system is so closely entwined with the apparent inter- 
ests and convenience of individuals, that it will never want 
for able defenders, so long as it exists. But I believe I do 



FREE LABOR AND SLAVE LABOR. 83 

not misrepresent the truth, when I say the prevailing opinion 
at the South is, that it would have been much better for 
those States, and for the country in general, if slavery had 
never been introduced. 

Miss Martineau, in her most admirable little book on 
Demerara, says : " Labor is the product of mind as much 
as of body ; and to secure that product, we must sway the 
mind by the natural means — by motives. Laboring against 
self-interest is what nobody ought to expect of white men — 
much less pC slaves. Of course every man, woman and 
child, would rather play for nothing than work for nothing. 

" It is the mind, which gives sight to the eye, and hearing 
to the ear, and strength to the limbs ; and the mind cannot 
be purchased. Where a man is allowed the possession of 
himself, the purchaser of his labor is benefitted by the vigor 
of his mind through the service of his limbs : where man is 
made the possession of another, the possessor loses at once 
and for ever all that is most valuable in that for which he 
has paid the price of crime. He becomes the o\v ler of that 
which only differs from an idiot in being less easily drilled 
into habits, and more capable of effectual revenge. 

" Cattle are fixed capital, and so are slaves : But slaves 
differ from cattle on the one hand, in yielding (from internal 
opposition) a less return for their maintenance ; and from 
free laborers on the other hand, in not being acted upon 
by the inducements which stimulate production as an effort 
of mind as well as of body. In all three cases the labor 
is purchased. In free laborers and cattle, all the faculties 
work together, and to advantage ; in the slave they are 
opposed ; and therefore he is, so far as the amount of labor 
is concerned, the least valuable of the three. The negroes 
can invent and improve — witness their ingenuity in their 
dwellings, and their skill in certain of their sports; but their 
masters will never possess their faculties, though they have 
purchased their limbs. Our true policy would be to divide 
the work of the slave between the ox and the hired laborer; 
we should get more out of the sinews of the one and the soul 
of the other, than the produce of double the number of slaves." 

As a matter of humanity, let it be remembered that men 
having more reason than brutes, must be treated with much 
greater severity, in order to keep them in a state of abject 
submission. 

It seems unnecessary to say that what is unjust and unrrier- 



84 POSSIBILITY OF SAFE EMANCIPATION. 

ciful, can never be expedient ; yet men often write, talk, and 
act, as if they either forgot this truth, or doubted it. There 
is genuine wisdom in the following remark, extracted from the 
petition of Cambridge University to the Parliament of Eng- 
land, on the subject, of slavery : " A firm belief in the Prov- 
idence of a benevolent Creator assures us that no system, 
founded on the oppression of one part of mankind, can be 
beneficial to another." 

But the tolerator of slavery will say, "No doubt the sys- 
tern is an evil ; but we are not to blame for it ; we received 
it from our English ancestors. It is a lamentable necessity; 
—we cannot do it away if we would : — insurrections would 
be the inevitable result of any attempt to remove it" — and 
having quieted their consciences by the use of the word lam- 
entable, they think no more upon the subject. 

These assertions have been so often, and so dogmatically 
repeated, that many truly kind-hearted people have believed 
there was some truth in them. I myself, (may God forgive 
me for it!) have often, in thoughtless ignorance, made the 
same remarks. 

An impartial and careful examination has led me to the 
conviction that slavery causes insurrections, while emanci- 
pation prevents them. 

The grand argument of the slaveholder is that sudden 
freedom occasioned the horrible massacres of St. Domingo. 
— If a word is said in favor of abolition, he shakes his head, 
and points a warning finger to St. Domingo ! But it is a re- 
markable fact that this same vilified island furnishes a strong 
argument against the lamentable necessity of slavery. In 
the first place, there was a bloody civil war there before the 
act of emancipation was passed ; in the second place enfran- 
chisement produced the most blessed effects: in the third 
place, no difficulties whatever arose, until Bonaparte made 
his atrocious attempt to restore slavery in the island. 

Colonel Malenfant, a slave proprietor, resident in St. Do- 
mingo at the time, thus describes the effect of sudden enfran- 
chisement, in his Historical and Political Memoir of the Col- 
onies : 

" After this public act of emancipation, the negroes re- 
mained quiet both in the South and in the West, and they 
continued to work upon all the plantations. There were es- 
tates which had neither owners nor managers resident upon 
them, yet upon these estates, though abandoned, the negroes 



POSSIBILITY OF SAFE EMANCIPATION. 85 

continued their labors where there were any, even inferior 
agents, to guide them ; and on those estates where no white 
men were left to direct them, they betook themselves to the 
planting of provisions ; but upon all the plantations where 
the whites resided, the blacks continued to labor as quietly 
as before." Colonel Malenfant says, that when many of his 
neighbors, proprietors or managers, were in prison, the ne- 
groes of their plantations came to him to beg him to direct 
them in their work. 

He adds, " If you will take care not to talk to them of the 
restoration of slavery, but to talk to them of freedom, you 
may with this word chain them down to their labor. How did 
Toussaint succeed ? — How did I succeed before his time in 
the plain of the Culde-Sae on the plantation Gouraud, during 
more than eight months after liberty had been granted to 
the slaves? Let those who knew me at that time, let the 
blacks themselves, be asked : they will all reply that not a 
single negro upon that plantation, consisting of more than 
four hundred and fifty laborers, refused to work : and yet 
this plantation was thought to be under the worst discipline 
and the slaves the most idle of any in the plain. I inspired 
the same activity into three other plantations of which I had 
the management. If all the negroes had come from Africa 
within six months, if they had the love of independence that 
the Indians have, I should own that force must be employed ; 
but ninety-nine out of a hundred of the blacks are aware 
that without labor they cannot procure the things that are 
necessary for them; that there is no other method of satis- 
fying their wants and their tastes. They know that they 
must work, they wish to do so, and they will do so." 

Such was the conduct of the negroes for the first nine 
months after their liberation, or up to the middle of 1794. 
In the latter part of 1796, Malenfant says, "the colony 
was flourishing under Toussaint, the whites lived happily 
and in peace upon their estates, and the negroes continued 
to work for them." General Lecroix, who published his 
" Memoirs for a History of St. Domingo" in 1819, says, 
that in 1797 the most wonderful progress had been made in 
agriculture. " The Colony," says he, " marched as by en- 
chantment towards its ancient splendor : cultivation pros- 
pered ; every day produced perceptible proof of its progress." 
General Vincent,* who was a general of brigade of artillery 
* Clarkson's Thoughts, p. 2. 
8 



86 POSSIBILITY OF SAFE EMANCIPATION. 

in St. Domingo and a proprietor of estates in the island, was 
sent by Toussaint to Paris in 1801 to lay before the Direc . 
tory the new constitution which had been agreed upon in 
St. Domingo. He arrived in France just at the moment of 
the peace of Amiens, and found that Bonaparte was prepar- 
ing an armament for the purpose of restoring slavery in St. 
Domingo. He remonstrated against the expedition ; he sta- 
ted that it was totally unnecessary and therefore criminal, 
for every thing was going on well in St. Domingo. The 
proprietors were in peaceable possession of their estates ; cul- 
tivation was making rapid progress ; the blacks were indus- 
trious and beyond example happy. He conjured him, there- 
fore, not to reverse this beautiful state of things ; but his 
efforts were ineffectual, and the expedition arrived upon the 
shores of St. Domingo. At length, however, the French 
were driven from the island. Till that time the planters had 
retained their property, and then it was, and not till then, 
that they lost their all. In 1804, Dessalines was proclaimed 
Emperor; in process of time a great part of the black troops 
were disbanded, and returned to cultivation again. From 
that time to this, there has been no want of subordination or 
industry among them." 

The following account of Hayti at a later period is quoted 
from Mr. Harvey's sketches of that island, during the latter 
part of the reign of Christophe : 

" Those who by their exertions and economy were ena- 
bled to procure small spots of land of their own, or to hold 
the smaller plantations at an annual rent, were diligently 
engaged in cultivating coffee, sugar, and other articles, 
which they disposed of to the inhabitants of the adjacent 
towns and villages. It was an interesting sight to behold 
this class of the Haytians, now in possession of their freedom, 
coming in groups to the market nearest which they resided, 
bringing the produce of their industry for sale ; and after- 
wards returning, carrying back the necessary articles of ' 
living which the disposal of their commodities had enabled I 
them to purchase ; all evidently cheerful and happy. Nor 
could it fail to occur to the mind that their present condition 
furnished the most satisfactory answer to that objection to ij 
the general emancipation of slaves, founded on their alleged' 
unfitness to value and improve the benefits of liberty. 

''Though of the same race and possessing the same gen-, 
eral traits of character as the negroes of the other Westt 



POSSIBILITY OF SAFE EMANCIPATION. 87 

India islands, they are already distinguished from them by 
habits of industry and activity, such as slaves are seldom 
known to exhibit. As they would not suffer, so they do not 
require, the attendance of one acting in the capacity of a 
driver with the instrument of punishment in his hand." 

"In Guadaloupe, the conduct of the freed negroes was 
equally satisfactory. The perfect subordination which was 
established and the industry which prevailed there, are proved 
by the official Reports of the Governor of Guadaloupe, to 
the French government. In 1793 liberty was proclaimed 
universally to the slaves in that island, and during their ten 
years of freedom, their governors bore testimony to their 
regular industry and uninterrupted submission to the laws.'* 

"During the first American war, a number of slaves ran 
away from their North American masters and joined the 
British army. When peace came, it was determined to give 
them their liberty, and to settle them in Nova Scotia, upon 
grants of land, as British subjects and as free men. Their 
number, comprehending men, women and children, was two 
thousand and upwards. Some of them worked upon little 
portions of land as their own ; others worked as carpenters ; 
others became fishermen ; and others worked for hire in 
various ways. In time, having embraced Christianity, they 
raised places of worship of their own, and had ministers of 
their own from their own body. They led a harmless life, 
and gained the character of an industrious and honest people 
from their white neighbors. A few years afterwards, the 
land in Nova Scotia being found too poor to answer, and 
the climate too cold for their constitutions, a number of them 
to the amount of between thirteen and fourteen hundred, vol- 
unteered to form a new colony which was then first thought 
of at Sierra Leone, to which place they were accordingly 
conveyed. Many hundreds of the negroes who had formed 
the West Indian black regiments were removed in 1819 to 
Sierra Leone, where they were set at liberty at once, and 
founded the villages of Waterloo, Hastings, and others. Sev- 
eral hundred maroons, (runaway slaves and their descend- 
ants,) being exiled from Jamaica, were removed in 1801 to 
Sierra Leone, where they were landed with no other prop- 
erty than the clothes which they wore and the muskets which 
they carried in their hands. A body of revolted slaves were 
banished from Barbadoes in 1816, and sent also to Sierra 
Leone. The rest of the population of this colony consists 



88 POSSIBILITY OF SAFE EMANCIPATION. 

almost entirely of negroes who have been recaptured from 
slave ships, and brought to Sierra Leone in the lowest state 
of misery, debility and degradation : naked, diseased, desti- 
tute, wholly ignorant of the English language, in this wretch- 
ed, helpless condition, they have been suddenly made free, 
and put into possession at once of the rights and privileges of 
British subjects. All these instances of sudden emancipation 
have taken place in a colony where the disproportion between 
black and white is more than a hundred to one. Yet this 
mixed population of suddenly emancipated slaves — runaway 
slaves — criminal slaves — and degraded recaptured negroes, 
are in their free condition living in order, tranquillity and 
comfort, and many of them in affluence." 

"During the last American war, seven hundred and seventy- 
four slaves escaped from their masters, and were at the termi- 
nation of the war settled in Trinidad as free laborers, where 
they are earning their own livelihood with industry and good 
conduct. The following extract of a letter, received in 1829 
from Trinidad by Mr. Pownall, will show the usefulness and 
respectability of these liberated negroes. ' A field negro 
brings four hundred dollars, but most of the work is done by 
free blacks and people from the main at a much cheaper rate ; 
and as these are generally employed by foreigners, this ac- 
counts for their succeeding better than our own countrymen, 
who are principally from the old islands, and are unaccus- 
tomed to any other management than that of slaves ; how- 
ever, they are coming into it fast. In Trinidad, there are 
upwards of fifteen thousand free people of color ; there is not 
a single pauper amongst them; they live independently and 
comfortably, and nearly half of the property of the island is 
said to be in their hands. It is admitted that they are highly 
respectable in character, and are rapidly advancing in knowl- 
edge and refinement.' Mr. Mitchell, a sugar planter who 
had resided twenty-seven years in Trinidad, and who is the 
superintendent of the liberated negroes there, says he knows 
of no instance of a manumitted slave not maintaining himself. 
In a paper printed by the House of Commons in 1827, (No. 
479,) he says of the liberated blacks under his superintend- 
ence, that each of them possessed an allotment of land which 
he cultivated, and on which he raised provisions and other 
articles for himself and his family ; his wife and children 
aiding him in the work. A great part, however, of the time 
of the men (the women attending to the domestic menage) 



POSSIBILITY OP SAFE EMANCIPATION. 89 

was freely given to laboring on the neighboring plantations, 
on which they worked not in general by the day, but by the 
piece. Mr. Mitchell says that their work is well executed, 
and that they can earn as much as four shillings a day. If, 
then, these men who have land on which they can support 
themselves are yet willing to work for hire, how is it possi- 
ble to doubt that in case of general emancipation, the freed 
negroes who would have no land of their own would gladly 
work for wages ?" 

"A few years ago, about one hundred and fifty negro slaves, 
at different times, succeeded in making their escape from Ken- 
tucky into Canada. Captain Stuart, who lived in Upper Can- 
ada from 1817 to 1822, was generally acquainted with them, 
and employed several of them in various ways. He found 
them as good and as trustworthy laborers, in every respect, 
as any emigrants from the islands, or from the United States, 
or as the natives of the country. In 1828, he again visited 
that country, and found that their numbers had increased by 
new refugees to about three hundred. They had purchased 
a tract of woodland, a few miles from Amherstburgh, and 
were settled on it, had formed a little village, had a minister 
of their own number, color, and choice, a good old man of 
some talent, with whom Captain Stuart was well acquainted, 
and though poor, were living soberly, honestly and industrious- 
ly, and were peacefully and usefully getting their own living. 
In consequence of the Revolution in Colombia, all the slaves 
who joined the Colombian armies, amounting to a consider- 
able number, were declared free. General Bolivar enfran- 
chised his own slaves to the amount of between seven and 
eight hundred, and many proprietors followed his example. 
At that time Colombia was overrun by hostile armies, and 
the masters were often obliged to abandon their property. 
The black population (including Indians) amounted to nine 
hundred thousand persons. Of these, a large number was 
suddenly emancipated, and what has been the effect? Where 
the opportunities of insurrection have been so frequent, and 
so tempting, what has been the effect? M. Ravenga declares 
that the effect has been a degree of docility on the part of the 
Hacks, and a degree of security on the part of the whites, un- 
known in any preceding period of the history of Colombia." 

" Dr. Walsh* states that in Brazil there are six hundred 

* Walsh's Notes on Brazil, vol. ii. page 365. 
8* 



90 POSSIBILITY OF SAFE EMANCIPATION. 

thousand enfranchised persons, either Africans or of African 
descent, who were either slaves themselves or are the de- 
scendants of slaves. He says they are, generally speaking, 
* well conducted and industrious persons, who compose in- 
discriminately different orders of the community. There are 
among them merchants, farmers, doctors, lawyers, priests 
and officers of different ranks. Every considerable town 
in the interior has regiments composed of them.' The ben- 
efits arising from them, he adds, have disposed the whites 
to think of making free the whole negro population." 

" Mr. Koster, an Englishman living in Brazil, confirms 
Mr. Walsh's statement.* ' There are black regiments,' he 
observes, ' composed entirely and exclusively of black Creole 
soldiers, commanded by black Creole officers from the cor- 
poral to the colonel. I have seen the several guard -houses 
of the town occupied by these troops. Far from any ap- 
prehension being entertained on this score, it is well known 
that the quietude of this country, and the feeling of safety 
which every one possesses, although surrounded by slaves, 
proceed from the contentedness of the free people.' ' : 

" The actual condition of the hundred thousand emanci- 
pated blacks and persons of color in the British West India 
Colonies, certainly gives no reason to apprehend that if a 
general emancipation should take place, the newly freed 
slaves would not be able and willing to support themselves. 
On this point the Returns from fourteen of the Slave Colo- 
nies, laid before the House of Commons, in 1826, give satis- 
factory information : they include a period of five years from 
January 1, 1821, to December 31, 1825, and give the fol- 
lowing account of the state of pauperism in each of these 
colonies. 

"Bahamas. — The only establishment in the colony for 
the relief of the poor, appears to be a hospital or poor-house. 
The number passing through the hospital annually was, on 
the average, fifteen free black and colored persons and thir- 
teen whites. The number of free black and colored persons 
is about double that of the whites ; so that the proportion of 
white to that of colored paupers in the Bahamas, is nearly 
two to one. 

" Barbadoes. — The average annual number of persons 
supported in the nine parishes, from which returns have 

* Amelioration of Slavery, published in No. 16 of the Pamphleteer. 



POSSIBILITY OF SAFE EMANCIPATION. 91 

been sent, is nine hundred and ninety-eight, all of whom, 
with a single exception, are white. The probable amount 
of white persons in the island is fourteen thousand five hun- 
dred — of free black and colored persons, four thousand five 
hundred. 

" Berbice. — The white population appears to amount to 
about six hundred, the free black and colored to nine hun- 
dred. In 1822, it appears that there were seventeen white 
and two colored paupers. 

" Demerara. — The free black and colored population, it 
is supposed, are twice the number of the whites. The ave- 
rage number of white pensioners on the poor fund appears 
to be fifty-one, that of colored pensioners twenty-six. In oc- 
casional relief, the white paupers receive about three times 
as much as the colored. 

"Dominica. — The white population is estimated at about 
nine hundred ; the free black and colored population was 
ascertained, in 1825, to amount to three thousand one hun- 
dred and twenty-two. During the five years ending in No- 
vember, 1825, thirty of the former class had received relief 
from the poor fund, and only ten of the latter, making the 
proportion of more than nine white paupers to one colored 
one in the same number of persons. 

"Jamaica is supposed to contain twenty thousand whites, 
and double that number of free black and colored persons. 
The returns of paupers from the parishes which have sent 
returns, exhibit the average number of white paupers to be 
two hundred ninety-five, of black and colored paupers, one 
hundred and forty-eight ; the proportion of white paupers to 
those of the other class, according to the whole population, 
being as four to one. 

"Nevis. — The white population is estimated at nbout eight 
hundred, the free black and colored at about eighteen hun- 
dred. The number of white paupers receiving relief is stated 
to be twenty-five ; that of the other class, two ; being in the 
proportion of twenty-eight to one. 

" St. Christophers. — The average number of white pau- 
pers appears to be one hundred and fifteen ; that of the other 
class, fourteen; although there is no doubt that the popula- 
tion of the latter class greatly outnumbers that of the former. 

" Tortola. — In 1825 the free black and colored population 
amounted to six hundred and seven. The whites are esti- 
mated at about three hundred. The number of white pau- 



92 POSSIBILITY OF SAFE EMANCIPATION. 

pers relieved appears to be twenty-nine : of the other class, 
four: being in the proportion of fourteen to one. 

" In short, in a population of free black and colored per- 
sons amounting to from eighty thousand to ninety thousand, 
only two hundred and twenty-nine persons have received 
any relief whatever as paupers during the years 1821, to 
1825 ; and these chiefly the concubines and children of des- 
titute whites ; while of about sixty-five thousand whites, in 
the same time, sixteen hundred and seventy-five received 
relief. The proportion, therefore, of enfranchised persons 
receiving any kind of aid as paupers in the West Indies, is 
about one in three hundred and seventy: whereas the pro- 
portion among the whites of the West Indies is about one in 
forty ; and in England, generally one in twelve or thirteen 
— in some counties, one in eight or nine. 

" Can any one read these statements, made by the colo- 
nists themselves, and still think it necessary to keep the 
negroes in slavery, lest they should be unable to maintain 
themselves if free ? 

"In 1823, the Assembly of Grenada passed a resolution, 
declaring that the free colored inhabitants of these colonies, 
were a respectable, well behaved class of the community, 
were possessed of considerable property, and were entitled 
to have their claims viewed with favor. 

"In 1824, when Jamaica had been disturbed for months 
by unfounded alarms relating to the slaves, a committee of 
the legislative assembly declared that 'the conduct of the 
freed people evinced not only zeal and alacrity, but a warm 
interest in the welfare of the colony, and every way identi- 
fied them with those who are the most zealous promoters of 
its internal security.' The assembly confirmed this favora- 
ble report a few months ago, by passing a bill conferring on 
all free black and colored persons the same privileges, civil 
and political, with the white inhabitants. 

"In the orders issued in 1829, by the British Government, 
in St. Lucia, placing all freemen of African descent upon 
the footing of equal rights with their white neighbors, the 
loyalty and good conduct of that class are distinctly ac- 
knowledged, and they are declared f to have shown, hitherto, 
readiness and zeal in coming forward for the maintenance 
of order.' As similar orders have been issued for Trinidad, 
Berbice, and the Cape of Good Hope, it may be presumed 
that the conduct of the free blacks and colored persons in 



POSSIBILITY OF SAFE EMANCIPATION. 93 

those colonies has likewise given satisfaction to Govern- 
ment. 

" In the South African Commercial Advertiser, of the 9th 
of February, 1831, we are happy to find recorded one more 
of the numerous proofs which experience affords of the safety 
and expediency of immediate abolition. 

" Three thousand prize negroes have received their free- 
dom ; four hundred in one day ; but not the least difficulty 
or disorder occurred ; — servants found masters — masters 
hired servants ; all gained homes, and at night scarcely an 
idler ivas to he seen. In the last month, one hundred and 
fifty were liberated under precisely similar circumstances, 
and with the same result. These facts are within our own 
observation ; and to state that sudden and abrupt emancipa- 
tion would create disorder and distress to those you mean 
to serve, is not reason, but the plea of all men who are ad- 
verse to emancipation. 

" As far as it can be ascertained from the various docu- 
ments which have been cited, and from others, which, from 
the fear of making this account too long, are not particularly 
referred to, it appears that in every place and time in which 
emancipation has been tried, not one drop of white blood has 
been shed, or even endangered by it ; that it has everywhere 
greatly improved the condition of the blacks, and in most 
places has removed them from a state of degradation and 
suffering to one of respectability and happiness. Can it, 
then, be justifiable, on account of any vague fears of we 
know not what evils, to reject this just, salutary and hitherto 
uninjurious measure ; and to cling to a system which we 
know, by certain experience, is producing crime, misery and 
death, during every day of its existence?" 

In Mexico, September 15, 1829, the following decree was 
issued ; "Slavery is for ever abolished in the republic ; and 
consequently all those individuals, who, until this day, looked 
upon themselves as slaves, are free." The prices of slaves 
were settled by the magistrates, and they were required to 
work with their master, for stipulated wages, until the debt 
was paid. If the slave wished to change masters he could 
do so, if another person would take upon himself the liability 
of payment, in exchange for his labor ; and provided the 
master was secured against loss, he was obliged to consent 
to the transaction. Similar transfers might take place to 
accommodate the master, but never without the consent of 



94 POSSIBILITY OP SAFE EMANCIPATION. 

the servant. The law regulated the allowance of provisions, 
clothing, &c, and if the negro wished for more, he might 
have it charged, and deducted from his wages ; but lest 
masters should take advantage of the improvidence of their 
servants, it was enacted, that all charges exceeding half the 
earnings of any slave, or family of slaves, should be void in 
law. The duties of servants were defined as clearly as pos- 
sible by the laws, and magistrates appointed to enforce them ; 
but the master was entrusted with no power to punish, in 
any manner whatever. It was expressly required that tho 
masters should furnish every servant with suitable means of 
religious and intellectual instruction. 

A Vermont gentleman, who had been a slaveholder in 
Mississippi, and afterward resident at Matamoras, in Mexico, 
speaks with enthusiasm of the beneficial effects of these reg- 
ulations, and thinks the example highly important to the 
United States. He declares that the value of the plantations 
was soon increased by the introduction of free labor. " No 
one was made poor by it. It gave property to the servant, 
and increased the riches of the master." 

The republics of Buenos Ayres, Chili, Bolivia, Peru, Co- 
lombia, Guatemala and Monte Video, likewise took steps for 
the abolition of slavery, soon after they themselves came 
into possession of freedom. In some of these States, means 
were taken for the instruction of young slaves, who were all 
enfranchised by law, on arriving at a certain age ; in others, 
universal emancipation is to take place after a certain date, 
fixed by the laws. The empire of Brazil, and the United 
States are the only American nations, that have taken no 
measures to destroy this most pestilent system ; and I have 
recently been assured by intelligent Brazilians, that public 
opinion in that country is now so strongly opposed to slavery 
that something effectual will be done toward abolition, at the 
very next meeting of the Cortes. If this should take place, 
the United States will stand alone in most hideous pre- 
eminence. 

When Nccker wrote his famous book on French finances, 
he suggested a universal compact of nations to suppress the 
slave trade. The exertions of England alone have since 
nearly realized his generous plan, though avarice and cun- 
ning do still manage to elude her vigilance and power. She 
has obtained from Spain, Portugal, France, Holland, and Den- 
mark, a mutual right to search all vessels suspected of being 



POSSIBILITY OF SAFE EMANCIPATION. 95 

engaged in this wicked traffic* I believe I am correct in say- 
ing that ours is now the only flag, which can protect this ini- 
quity from the just indignation of England. When a mutual 
right of search was proposed to us, a strong effort was made 
to blind the people with their own prejudices, by urging tho 
old complaint of the impressment of seamen ; and alas, when 
has an unsuccessful appeal been made to passion and preju- 
dice ? It is evident that nothing on earth ought to prevent 
co-operation in a cause like this. Besides, "It is useless for 
us to attempt to linger on the skirts of the age that is depart- 
ing. The action of existing causes and principles is steady 
and progressive. It cannot be retarded, unless we would 
* blow out all the moral lights around us ;' and if we refuse 
to keep up with it, we shall be towed in the wake, whether 
we are willing or not."f 

When I think of the colonies established along the coast 
of Africa — of Algiers, conquered and civilized — of the in- 
creasing wealth and intelligence of Hayti — of the powerful 
efforts now being made all over the world to sway public 
opinion in favor of universal freedom — of the certain emanci- 
pation of slaves in all British Colonies — and above all, the 
evident union of purpose existing between the French and 
English cabinets, — I can most plainly see the hand of God 
working for the deliverance of the negroes. We may re- 
sist the blessed influence if we will ; but we cannot conquer. 
Every j^ear the plot is thickening around us, and the nations 
of the earth, either consciously or unconsciously, are hasten- 
ing the crisis. The defenders of the slave system are situated 
like the man in the Iron Shroud, the walls of whose prison 
daily moved nearer and nearer, by means of powerful ma- 
chinery, until they crushed all that remained within them. 

But to return to the subject of emancipation. Nearly 
every one of the States north of Mason and Dixon's line once 
held slaves. These slaves were manumitted without blood- 
shed, and there was no trouble in making free colored la- 
borers obey the laws. 

I am aware that this desirable change must be attended 
with much more difficulty in the Southern States, simply be- 
cause the evil has been suffered until it is fearfully over- 

* The British Government actually paid Spain four hundred thousand 
pounds, as an indemnity to those engaged in the slave trade, on condition 
that the traffic should be abolished by law throughout her dominions. 

f Speech of Mr. Brodnax, of Virginia. 



96 POSSIBILITY OF SAFE EMANCIPATION. 

grown ; but it must not be forgotten that while they are 
using their ingenuity and strength to sustain it for the pres- 
ent, the mischief is increasing more and more rapidly. If 
this be not a good time to apply a remedy, when will be a 
better ? They must annihilate slavery, or slavery will an 
nihilate them. 

It seems to be forgotten that emancipation from tyranny 
is not an emancipation from law ; the negro, after he is 
made free, is restrained from the commission of crimes by 
the same laws which restrain other citizens : if he steals, 
he will be imprisoned : if he commits murder, he will be 
hung. 

It will, perhaps, be said that the free people of color in 
the slave portions of this country are peculiarly ignorant, 
idle, and vicious ? It may be so : for our laws and our in- 
fluence are peculiarly calculated to make them bad members 
of society. But we trust the civil power to keep in order 
the great mass of ignorant and vicious foreigners continually 
pouring into the country ; and if the laws are strong enough 
for this, may they not be trusted to restrain the free blacks ? 

In those countries where the slaves codes are mild, where 
emancipation is rendered easy, and inducements are offered 
to industry, insurrections are not feared, and free people of 
color form a valuable portion of the community. If we per- 
sist in acting in opposition to the established laws of nature 
and reason, how can we expect favorable results? But it is 
pronounced unsafe to change our policy. Every progres- 
sive improvement in the world has been resisted by despot- 
ism, on the ground that changes were dangerous. The Em- 
peror of Austria thinks there is need of keeping his subjects 
ignorant, that good order may be preserved. But what he 
calls good order, is sacrificing the happiness of many to the 
advancement of a few ; and no doubt knowledge is unfavor- 
able to the continuation of such a state of things. It is pre- 
cisely so with the slaveholder ; he insists that the welfare 
of millions must be subordinate to his private interest, or else 
all good order is destroyed. 

It is much to be regretted that Washington enfranchised 
his slaves in the manner he did ; because their poverty and 
indolence have furnished an ever ready argument for those 
who are opposed to emancipation.* To turn slaves adrift 

* With all my unbounded reverence for Washington, I have, I confess, 
sometimes found it hard to forgive him for not manumitting his slaves 



POSSIBILITY OP SAFE EMANCIPATION. 97 

in their old age, unaccustomed to take care of themselves, 
without employment, and in a community where all the pre- 
judices were strongly arrayed against free negroes, was cer- 
tainly an unhappy experiment. 

But if slaves were allowed to redeem themselves progres- 
sively, by purchasing one day of the week after another, as 
they can in the Spanish colonies, habits of industry would 
be gradually formed, and enterprise would be stimulated, by 
their successful efforts to acquire a little property. And if 
they afterward worked better as free laborers than they now 
do as slaves, it would surely benefit their masters as well as 
themselves. 

That strong-hearted republican, La Fayette, when he re- 
turned to France in 1785, felt strongly urged by a sense of 
duty, to effect the emancipation of slaves in the Colony of 
Cayenne. As most of the property in the colony belonged 
to the crown, he was enabled to prosecute his plans with 
less difficulty than he could otherwise have done. Thirty 
thousand dollars were expended in the purchase of planta- 
tions and slaves for the sole purpose of proving by experi- 
ment the safety and good policy of conferring freedom. Be- 
ing afraid to trust the agents generally employed in the 
colony, he engaged a prudent and amiable man at Paris 
to undertake the business. This gentleman, being fully in- 
structed in La Fayette's plans and wishes, sailed for Cayenne. 
The first thing he did when he arrived, was to collect all 
the cart-whips, and other instruments of punishment, and 
have them burnt amid a general assemblage of the slaves ; 
he then made known to them the laws and rules by which 
the estates would be governed. The object of all the reg- 
ulations was to encourage industry by making it the means 
of freedom. This new kind of stimulus had a most favora- 
ble effect on the slaves, and gave promise of complete suc- 
cess. But the judicious agent died in consequence of the 

long before his death. A fact which has lately come to my knowledge, 
gave me great joy ; for it furnishes a reason for what had appeared to me 
unpardonable. It appears that Washington possessed a gang of negroes 
in right of his wife, with which his own negroes had intermarried. By 
the marriage settlement, the former were limited, in default of issue of 
the marriage, to the representatives of Mrs. Washington at her death; 
so that her "negroes could not be enfranchised. An unwillingness to sep- 
arate parents and children, husbands and wives, induced Washington to 
postpone the manumission of his own slaves. This motive is briefly, 
and as it were accidentally, referred to in his will. 

9 



98 POSSIBILITY OF SAFE EMANCIPATION. 

climate, and the French Revolution threw every thing into 
a state of convulsion at home and abroad. The new re- 
public of France bestowed unconditional emancipation upon 
the slaves in her colonies ; and had she persevered in her 
promises with good faith and discretion, the horrors of St. 
Domingo might have been spared. The emancipated ne. 
groes in Cayenne came in a body to the agents, and declared 
that if the plantations still belonged to General La Fayette 
they were ready and willing to resume their labors for the 
benefit of one who had treated them like men, and cheered 
their toil by making it a certain means of freedom. 

I cannot forbear paying a tribute of respect to the vener- 
able Moses Brown, of Providence, Rhode Island, now living 
in virtuous and vigorous old age. He was a slave-owner 
in early life, and, unless I have been misinformed, a slave- 
dealer, likewise. When his attention became roused to re- 
ligious subjects, these facts troubled his conscience. He 
easily and promptly decided that a Christian could not con- 
sistently keep slaves; but he did not dare to trust his own 
nature to determine the best manner of doing justice to those 
he had wronged. He therefore appointed a committee, be- 
fore whom he laid a statement of the expenses he had in. 
curred for the food and clothing of his slaves, and of the 
number of years, during which he had had the exclusive ben- 
efit of their labors. He conceived that he had no right to 
charge them for their freedom, because God had given them 
an inalienable right to that possession, from the very hour of 
their birth ; but he wished the committee to decide what 
wages he ought to pay them for the work they had done. 
He cordially accepted the decision of the committee, paid 
the negroes their dues, and left them to choose such employ- 
ments as they thought best. Many of the grateful slaves 
preferred to remain with him as hired laborers. It is hardly 
necessary to add that Moses Brown is a Quaker. 

It is commonly urged against emancipation that white men 
cannot possibly labor under the sultry climate of our most 
southerly States. This is a good reason for not sending the 
slaves out of the country, but it is no argument against mak- 
ing them free. No doubt we do need their labor ; but we 
ought to pay for it. Why should their presence be any 
more disagreeable as hired laborers, than as slaves ? In 
Boston, we continually meet colored people in the streets, 
and employ them in various ways, without being endangered 



POSSIBILITY OP SAFE EMANCIPATION. 99 

or even incommoded. There is no moral impossibility in a 
perfectly kind and just relation between the two races. 

If white men think otherwise, let them remove from cli- 
mates which nature has made too hot for their constitutions. 
Wealth or pleasure often induces men to change their abode; 
an emigration for the sake of humanity would be an agreea- 
able novelty. Algernon Sidney said, " When I cannot live 
in my own country, but by such means as are worse than 
dying in it, I think God shows me that I ought to keep my. 
self out of it." 

But the slaveholders try to stop all the efforts of benevo* 
lence, by vociferous complaints about infringing upon their 
property ; and justice is so subordinate to self-interest, that 
the unrighteous claim is silently allowed, and even openly 
supported, by those who ought to blush for themselves, as 
Christians and as republicans. Let men simplify their ar- 
guments — let them confine themselves to one single question, 
" What right can a man have to compel his neighbor to toil 
without reward, and leave the same hopeless inheritance to 
his children, in order that he may live in luxury and indo- 
lence ?" Let the doctrines of expediency return to the Father 
of Lies, who invented them, and gave them power to turn 
every way for evil. The Christian knows no appeal from 
the decisions of God, plainly uttered in his conscience. 

The laws of Venice allowed property in human beings ; 
and upon this ground Shylock demanded his pound of flesh, 
cut nearest to the heart. Those who advertise mothers to 
be sold separately from their children, likewise claim a right 
to human flesh ; and they too cut it nearest to the heart. 

The personal liberty of one man can never be the property 
of another. All ideas of property are founded upon the mu- 
tual agreement of the human race, and are regulated by such 
laws as are deemed most conducive to the general good. In 
slavery there is no mutual agreement ; for in that case it 
would not be slavery. The negro has no voice in the mat- 
ter — no alternative is presented to him — no bargain is made. 
The beginning of his bondage is the triumph of power over 
weakness ; its continuation is the tyranny of knowledge 
over ignorance. One man may as well claim an exclusive 
right to the air another man breathes, as to the possession 
of his limbs and faculties. Personal freedom is the birth, 
right of every human being. God himself made it the first 
great law of creation ; and no human enactment can render 



100 POSSIBILITY OF SAFE EMANCIPATION. 

it null and void. n If," says Price, " you have a right to 
make another man a slave, he has a right to make you a 
clave ;" and Ramsay says, " If we have in the beginning no 
right to sell a man, no person has a right to buy him." 

Am I reminded that the laws acknowledge these vested 
rights in human flesh ? I answer the laws themselves were 
made by individuals, who wished to justify the wrong and 
profit by it. We ought never to have recognised a claim, 
which cannot exist according to the laws of God ; it is our 
duty to atone for the error ; and the sooner we make a be- 
ginning, the better will it be for us all. Must our arguments 
be based upon justice and mercy to the slaveholders only ? 
Have the negroes no right to ask compensation for their 
years and years of unrewarded toil? It is true that they 
fiave food and clothing, of such kind, and in such quantities, 
as their masters think proper. But it is evident that this 
is not the worth of their labor ; for the proprietors can give 
from one hundred to five and six hundred dollars for a slave, 
beside the expense of supporting those who are too old or too 
young to labor. They could not afford to do this, if the 
slave did not earn more than he receives in food and cloth- 
ing. If the laws allowed the slave to redeem himself pro- 
gressively, the owner would receive his money back again ; 
and the negro's years of uncompensated toil would be more 
than lawful interest. 

The southerners are much in the habit of saying they 
ideally wish for emancipation, if it could be efFected in safety; 
but I search in vain for any proof that these assertions are 
sincere. (When I say this I speak collectively; there are, 
no doubt, individual exceptions.) 

Instead of profiting by the experience of other nations, the 
slave-owners, as a body, have resolutely shut their eyes 
against the light, because they preferred darkness. Every 
change in the laws has riveted the chain closer and closer 
upon their victims ; every attempt to make the voice of 
reason and benevolence heard has been overpowered with 
threatening and abuse. A cautious vigilance against im- 
provement, a keen-eyed jealousy of all freedom of opinion, 
has characterized their movements. There can be no doubt 
that the majority wish to perpetuate slavery. They support 
it with loud bravado, or insidious sophistry, or pretended 
regret; but they never abandon the point. Their great 
desire is to keep the public mind turned in another direction. 



EMANCIPATION NOT SINCERELY DESIRED. 101 

They are well aware that the ugly edifice is built of rotten 
timbers, and stands on slippery sands — if the loud voice of 
public opinion could be made to reverberate through its 
dreary chambers, the unsightly frame would fall, never to 
rise again. 

Since so many of their own citizens admit that the policy 
of this system is unsound, and its effects injurious, it is won- 
derful that they do not begin to destroy the " costly iniquity", 
in good earnest. But long-continued habit is very powerful ; 
and in the habit of slavery are concentrated the strongest 
evils of human nature — vanity, pride, love of power, licen- 
tiousness, and indolence. 

There is a minority, particularly in Virginia and Kentucky, 
who sincerely wish a change for the better ; but they are 
overpowered, and have not even ventured to speak, except 
in the great Virginia debate of 1832. In the course of that 
debate, the spirit of slavery showed itself without disguise. 
The members talked of emancipation ; but with one or two 
exceptions, they merely wanted to emancipate, or rather to 
send away, the surplus population, which they could neither 
keep nor sell, and which might prove dangerous. They 
wished to get rid of the consequences of the evil, but were 
determined to keep the evil itself. Some members from 
Western Virginia, who spoke in a better spirit, and founded 
their arguments on the broad principles of justice, not on the 
mere convenience of a certain class, were repelled with an- 
gry excitement. The eastern districts threatened to sepa- 
rate from the western, if the latter persisted in expressing 
opinions opposed to the continuance of slavery. From what 
I have uniformly heard of the comparative prosperity of 
Eastern and Western Virginia, I should think this was very 
much like the town's poor threatening to separate from the 
town. 

The mere circumstance of daring to debate on the subject 
was loudly reprimanded ; and there was a good deal of 
indignation expressed that " reckless editors, and imprudent 
correspondents, had presumed so far as to allude to it in the 
columns of a newspaper." Discussion in the Legislature 
was strongly deprecated until a plan had been formed ; yet 
they must have known that no plan could be formed, in a 
republican government, without previous discussion. The 
proposal contained within itself that self-perpetuating power, 
for which the schemes of slave-owners are so remarkable. 

9* 



102 EMANCIPATION NOT SINCERELY DESIRED. 

Mr. Gholson sarcastically rebuked the restless spirit of 
improvement, by saying " he really had been under the 
impression that he owned his slaves. He had lately pur- 
chased four women and ten children, in whom he thought he 
had obtained a great bargain; for he supposed they were his 
own property, as were his brood mares." To which Mr. 
Roane replied, "I own a considerable number of slaves, and 
am perfectly sure they are mine ; and I am sorry to add 
that I have occasionally, though not often, been compelled to 
make them feel the impression of that ownership. I would 
not touch a hair on the head of the gentleman's slave, any 
sooner than I would a hair in the mane of his horse." 

Mr. Roane likewise remarked, " I think slavery as much a 
correlative of liberty as cold is of heat. History, experience, 
observation and reason, have taught me that the torch of 
liberty has ever burned brighter when surrounded by the 
dark and filthy, yet nutritious atmosphere of slavery ! I do 
not believe in the fanfaronade that all men are by nature 
equal. But these abstract speculations have nothing to do 
with the question, which I am willing to view as one of cold, 
sheer state policy, in which the safety, prosperity, and hap- 
piness of the whites alone are concerned." 

Would Mr. Roane carry out his logic into all its details ? 
Would he cherish intemperance, that sobriety might shine 
the brighter ? W 7 ould he encourage theft, in order to throw 
additional lustre upon honesty ? Yet there seems to be pre- 
cisely the same relation between these things that there is 
between slavery and freedom. Such sentiments sound oddly 
enough in the mouth of a republican of the nineteenth century ! 
When Mr. Wirt, before the Supreme Federal Court, said 
that slavery was contrary to the laws of nature and of na- 
tions, and that the law of South Carolina concerning seizing 
colored seamen, was unconstitutional, the Governor directed 
several reproofs at him. In 1825, Mr. King laid on the 
table of the United States Senate a resolution to appropriate 
the proceeds of the public lands to the emancipation of 
slaves, and the removal of free negroes, provided the same 
could be done under and agreeable to, the laws of the re- 
spective States. He said he did not wish it to be debated, 
but considered at some future time. Yet kindly and cau- 
tiously as this movement was made, the whole South resented 
it, and Governor Troup called to the Legislature and people 
of Georgia, to " stand to their arms." In 1827, the people 



EMANCIPATION NOT SINCERELY DESIRED. 103 

of Baltimore presented a memorial to Congress, praying that 
slaves born in the District of Columbia after a given time, 
specified by law, might become free on arriving at a certain 
age. A famous member from South Carolina called this 
an " impertinent interference, and a violation of the princi- 
ples of liberty" and the petition was not even committed. 
Another southern gentleman in Congress objected to the 
Panama mission because Bolivar had proclaimed liberty ti- 
the slaves. 

Mr. Hayne, in his reply to Mr. Webster, says : " There 
is a spirit, which, like the father of evil, is constantly walk- 
ing to and fro about the earth, seeking whom it may devour ; 
it is the spirit of false philanthropy. When this is infused 
into the bosom of a statesman (if one so possessed can be 
called a statesman) it converts him at once into a visionary 
enthusiast. Then he indulges in golden dreams of national 
greatness and prosperity. He discovers that ' liberty is 
power,' and not content with vast schemes of improvement 
at home, which it would bankrupt the treasury of the world 
to execute, he flies to foreign lands to fulfil ' obligations to the 
human race, by inculcating the principles of civil and reli- 
gious liberty,' &c. This spirit had long been busy with the 
slaves of the South ; and it is even now displaying itself in 
vain efforts to drive the government from its wise policy in 
relation to the Indians." 

Governor Miller, of South Carolina, speaking of the tariff 
and " the remedy, " asserted that slave labor was preferable 
to free, and challenged the free States to competition on fair 
terms. Governor Hamilton, of the same State, in delivering 
an address on the same subject, uttered a eulogy upon 
slavery ; concluding as usual that nothing but the tariff — 
nothing but the rapacity of Northerners, could have nullified 
such great blessings of Providence, as the cheap labor and 
fertile soil of Carolina. Mr. Calhoun, in his late speech in 
the Senate, alludes in a tone of strong disapprobation, and 
almost of reprimand, to the remarkable debate in the Vir- 
ginia Legislature ; the occurrence of which offence he 
charges to the opinions and policy of the north. 

If these things evince any real desire to do away the evil, 
I cannot discover it. There are many who inherit the mis- 
fortune of slavery, and would gladly renounce the miserable 
birthright if they could ; for their sakes, I wish the majority 
were guided by a better spirit and a wiser policy. But this 



104 EMANCIPATION NOT SINCERELY DESIRED. 

state of things cannot last. The operations of Divine Prov- 
idence are hastening the crisis, and move which way we 
will, it must come in some form or other ; if we take warning 
in time, it may come as a blessing. The spirit of philan- 
thropy, which Mr. Hayne calls ' false,' is walking to and fro 
in the earth ; and it will not pause, or turn back, till it has 
fastened the golden band of love and peace around a sinful 
world. The sun of knowledge and liberty is already high 
in the heavens — it is peeping into every dark nook and 
corner of the earth — and the African cannot be always ex- 
cluded from its beams. 

The advocates of slavery remind me of a comparison I 
once heard differently applied : Even thus does a dog, un- 
willing to follow his master's carriage, bite the wheels, in a 
vain effort to stop its progress. 



INFLUENCE OP SLAVERY, ETC. 105 



CHAPTER IV. 



INFLUENCE OP SLAVERY ON TIIE POLITICS OF THE UNITED 

STATES. 



Casca. I believe these are portentous things 
Onto the climate that they point upon. 

Cicero. Indeed it is a strange disposed time : 
But men may construe things after their fashion, 
Clean from the purpose of the things themselves. 

Julius Cjesab. 



When slave representation was admitted into the Consti- 
tution of the United States, a wedge was introduced, which 
has ever since effectually sundered the sympathies and in- 
terests of different portions of the country. By this step, 
the slave States acquired an undue advantage, which they 
have maintained with anxious jealousy, and in which the free 
States have never perfectly acquiesced. The latter would 
probably never have made the concession, so contrary to their 
principles, and the express provisions of their State consti- 
tutions, if powerful motives had not been offered by the South. 
These consisted, first, in taking upon themselves a proportion 
of direct taxes, increased in the same ratio as their represen- 
tation was increased by the concession to their slaves. 

Second. — In conceding to the small States an entire equal- 
ity in the Senate. This was not indeed proposed as an item 
of the adjustment, but it operated as such ; for the small 
States, with the exception of Georgia, (which in fact expected 
to become one of the largest,) lay in the North, and were 
either free, or likely soon to become so. 

During most of the contest, Massachusetts, then one of 
the large States, voted with Virginia and Pennsylvania for 
unequal representation in the Senate ; but on the final ques- 
tion she was divided, and gave no vote. There was prob- 
ably an increasing tendency to view this part of the com- 
promise, not merely as a concession of the large to the small 
States, but also of the largely slaveholding, to the free, or 



IOG INFLUENCE OF SLAVERY ON THE 

slightly slaveholding States. The two questions of slave 
representation with a proportional increase of direct taxes, 
and of perfect equality in the Senate, were always connected 
together ; and a large committee of compromise, consisting 
of one member from each State, expressly recommended that 
both provisions should be adopted, but neither of them with- 
out the other. 

Such were the equivalents, directly or indirectly offered, 
by which the free States were induced to consent to slave 
representation. It was not without very considerable strug- 
gles that they overcame their repugnance to admitting such 
a principle in the construction of a republican government. 
Mr. Gerry, of Massachusetts, at first exclaimed against it 
with evident horror, but at last, he was chairman of the 
committee of compromise. Even the slave States them- 
selves, seem to have been a little embarrassed with the dis- 
cordant element. A curious proof of this is given in the 
language of the Constitution. The ugly feature is covered 
as cautiously as the deformed visage of the Veiled Prophet. 
The words are as follows : " Representatives and direct 
taxes shall be apportioned among the States according to 
their respective numbers ; which shall be ascertained by 
adding to the whole number of free persons, including those 
bound to servitude for a term of years, and excluding Indians 
not taxed, three fifths of all other persons." In this most 
elaborate sentence, a foreigner would discern no slavery. 
None but those already acquainted with the serpent, would 
be able to discover its sting. 

Governor Wright, of Maryland, a contemporary of all 
these transactions, and a slaveholder, after delivering a 
eulogy upon the kindness of masters* expressed himself as 
follows : " The Constitution guaranties to us the services of 
these persons. It does not say slaves ; for the feelings of 
the framers of that glorious instrument would not suffer them 
to use that word, on account of its anti-congeniality — its 
incongeniality to the idea of a constitution for freemen. It 
says, ' persons held to service, or labor.' " — Governor Wright's 
Speech in Congress, March, 1822. 

This high praise bestowed on the form of our constitu- 
tion, reminds me of an anecdote. A clergyman in a neigh- 

* It was stated, at the time, that this person frequently steamed his 
negroes, in order to reduce their size to an equal weight for riding race- 
horses. This practice is understood to be common at the South. 



POLITICS OF THE UNITED STATES. 107 

boring State, being obliged to be absent from his parish, 
procured a young man to supply his place, who was very 
worldly in his inclinations, and very gay in his manners. 
When the minister returned, his people said, somewhat re- 
proachfully, " How could you provide such a man to preach 
for us ; you might at least have left us a hypocrite." 

While all parties agreed to act in opposition to the prin- 
ciples of justice, they all concurred to pay homage to them 
by hypocrisy of language ! Men are willing to try all means 
to appear honest, except the simple experiment of being so. 
It is true, there were individuals who distrusted this com- 
promise at the time, if they did not wholly disapprove of it. 
It is said that Washington, as he was walking thoughtfully 
near the Schuylkill, was met by a member of the Conven- 
tion, to whom, in the course of conversation, he acknowl- 
edged that he was meditating whether it would not be better 
to separate, without proposing a constitution to the people; for 
he was in great doubt whether the frame of governmeni, which 
was now nearly completed, would be better for them, than to 
trust to the course of events, and await future emergencies. 

This anecdote was derived from an authentic source, and 
I have no doubt of its truth : neither is there any doubt that 
Washington had in his mind this great compromise, the pivot 
on which the system of government was to turn. 

If avarice was induced to shake hands with injustice, from 
the expectation of increased direct taxation upon the South, 
she gained little by the bargain. With the exception of two 
brief periods, during the French war, and the last war with 
England, the revenue of the United States has been raised by 
duties on imports. The heavy debts and expenditures of 
the several States, which they had been accustomed to pro- 
vide for by direct taxes, and which they probably expected 
to see provided for by the same means in time to come, have 
been all paid by duties on imports. The greatest proportion 
of these duties are, of course, paid by the free States; for 
here, the poorest laborer daily consumes several articles of 
foreign production, of which from one-eighth to one-half 
the price is a tax paid to government. The clothing of the 
slave population increases the revenue very little, and their 
food almost none at all. 

Wherever hee labor and slave labor exist under the same 
government, there must be a perpetual clashing ot interests. 
The legislation required for one, is, in its spirit and maxims, 



108 INFLUENCE OF SLAVERY ON THE 

diametrically opposed to that required for the other. Hence 
Mr. Madison predicted, in the convention which formed our 
Federal Constitution, that the contests would be between the 
great geographical sections ; that such had been the division, 
even during the war and the confederacy. 

In the same convention, Charles Pinckney, a man of great 
sagacity, spoke of the equal representation of large and small 
States as a matter of slight consequence ; no difficulties, he 
said, would ever arise on that point ; the question would 
always be between the slaveholding and non-slaveholding 
interests. 

If the pressure of common danger, and the sense of indi- 
vidual weakness, during our contest for independence, could 
not bring the States to mutual confidence, nothing ever can 
do it, except a change of character. From the adoption of 
the constitution to the present time, the breach has been 
gradually widening. The South has pursued a uniform and 
sagacious system of policy, which, in all its bearings, direct 
and indirect, has been framed for the preservation and exten- 
sion of slave power. This system has, in the very nature 
of the two things, constantly interfered with the interests of 
the free States ; and hitherto the South have always gained 
the victory. This has principally been accomplished • by 
yoking all important questions together in pairs, and stren- 
uously resisting the passage of one, unless accompanied by 
the other. The South was desirous of removing the seat 
of government from Philadelphia to Washington, because the 
latter is in a slave territory, where republican representa- 
tives and magistrates can bring their slaves without danger 
of losing them, or having them contaminated by the princi- 
ples of universal liberty. The assumption of the State debts, 
likely to bring considerable money back to the North, was 
linked with this question, and both were carried. The ad- 
mission of Maine into th*e Union as a free State, and of Mis- 
souri as a slave Slate, were two more of these Siamese twins, 
not allowed to be separated from each other. A numerous 
smaller progeny may be found in the laying of imposts, and 
the successive adjustment of protection to navigation, the 
fisheries, agriculture, and manufactures. 

There would perhaps be no harm in this system of com- 
promises, or any objection to its continuing in infinite series, 
if no injustice were done to a third party, which is never 
heard or noticed, except for purposes of oppression. 



POLITICS OF THE UNITED STATES. 109 

I reverence the wisdom of our early legislators; but they 
certainly did very wrong to admit slavery as an element into 
a free constitution ; and to sacrifice the known and declared 
rights of a third and weaker paity, in order to cement a 
union between two stronger ones. Such an arrangement 
ought not, and could not, come to good. It has given the 
slave States a controlling power which they will always 
keep, so long as we remain together. 

President John Adams was of opinion, that this ascendency 
might be attributed to an early mistake, originating in what 
he called the " Frankford advice." When the first Congress 
was summoned in Philadelphia, Doctor Rush, and two or 
three other eminent men of Pennsylvania, met the Massa- 
chusetts delegates at Frankford, a few miles from Philadel- 
phia, and conjured them, as they valued the success of the 
common cause, to let no measure of importance appear to 
originate with the North, to yield precedence in all things 
to Virginia, and lead her if possible to commit herself to the 
Revolution. Above all, they begged that not a word might 
be said about " independence ;" for that a strong prejudice 
already existed against the delegates from New-England, on 
account of a supposed design to throw off their allegiance 
to the mother country. " The Frankford advice" was fol- 
lowed. The delegates from Virginia took the lead on all 
occasions. 

His son, John Q. Adams, finds a more substantial reason. 
In his speech on the Tariff, February 4, 1833, he said : "Not 
three days since, Mr. Clayton, of Georgia, called that species 
of population (viz. slaves) the machinery of the South. Now 
that machinery had twenty odd representatives* in that hall, 
— not elected by the machinery, but by those who owned it. 
And if he should go back to the history of this government 
from its foundation, it would be easy to prove that its de- 
cisions had been affected, in general, by less majorities than 
that. Nay, he might go farther, and insist that that very 
representation had ever been, in fact, the ruling power of this 
government." 

" The history of the Union has afforded a continual proof 
that this representation of property, which they enjoy, as 
well in the election of President and Vice-President of the 

* There are now twenty-five odd representatives — that is, representa- 
tives of slavcn. 

10 



110 INFLUENCE OF SLAVERY ON THE 

United States, as upon the floor of the House of Represen- 
tatives, lias secured to the slaveholding States the entire 
control of the national policy, and, almost without exception, 
the possession of the highest executive office of the Union. 
Always united in the purpose of regulating the affairs of 
the whole Union by the standard of the slaveholding interest, 
their disproportionate numbers in the electoral colleges have 
enabled them, in ten out of twelve quadrennial elections, to 
confer the Chief Magistracy upon one of their own citizens. 
Their suffrages at every election, without exception, have 
been almost exclusively confined to a candidate of their own 
caste. Availing themselves of the divisions which, from the 
nature of man, always prevail in communities entirely free, 
they have sought and found auxiliaries in the other quarters 
of the Union, by associating the passions of parties, and the 
ambition of individuals, with their own purposes, to establish 
and maintain throughout the confederated nation the slave- 
holding policy. The office of Vice-President, a station of 
high dignity, but of little other than contingent power, had 
been usually, by their indulgence, conceded to a citizen of 
the other section ; but even this political courtesy was super- 
seded at the election before the last, and both the offices of 
President and Vice-President of the United States were, by 
the preponderancy of slaveholding votes, bestowed upon 
citizens of two adjoining and both slaveholding States. At 
this moment the President of the United States, the President 
of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, 
and the Chief Justice of the United States, are all citizens of 
that favored portion of the united republic. The last of 
these offices, being under the constitution held by the tenure 
of good behaviour, has been honored and dignified by the oc- 
cupation of the present incumbent upwards of thirty years. 
An overruling sense of the high responsibilities under which 
it is held, has effectually guarded him from permitting the 
sectional slaveholding spirit to ascend the tribunal of justice ; 
and it is not difficult to discern, in this inflexible impartiality, 
the source of the obloquy which that same spirit has not been 
inactive in attempting to excite against the Supreme Court of 
the United States itself: and of the insuperable aversion of 
the votaries of nullification to encounter or abide by the de- 
cision of that tribunal, the true and legitimate umpire of con- 
stitutional, controverted law." 

It is worthy of observation that this slave representation 



POLITICS OF THE UNITED STATES. Ill 

is always used to protect and extend slave power ; and in 
this way, the slaves themselves are made to vote for slavery : 
they are compelled to furnish halters to hang their posterity. 

Machiavel says that " the whole politics of rival states 
consist in checking the growth of one another." It is suf- 
ficiently obvious, that the slave and free States are, and 
must be, rivals, owing to the inevitable contradiction of their 
interests. It needed no Machiavel to predict the result. A 
continual strife has been going on, more or less earnest, ac- 
cording to the nature of the interests it involved, and the 
South has always had strength and skill to carry her point. 
Of all our Presidents, Washington alone had power to keep 
the jealousies of his countrymen in check ; and he used his 
influence nobly. Some of his successors have cherished 
those jealousies, and made effective use of them. 

The people of the North have to manage a rocky and re- 
luctant soil ; hence commerce and the fisheries early attracted 
their attention. The products of these employments were, 
as they should be, proportioned to the dexterity and hard 
labor required in their pursuit. The North grew opulent ; 
and her politicians, who came in contact with those of the 
South with any thing like rival pretensions, represented the 
commercial class, which was the nucleus of the old Federal 
party. 

The Southerners have a genial climate and a fertile soil ; 
but in consequence of the cumbrous machinery of slave 
labor, which is slow for every thing, (except exhausting the 
soil,) they have always been less prosperous than the free 
States. It is said, I know not with how much truth, but it 
is certainly very credible, that a great proportion of their 
plantations are deeply mortgaged in New-York and Phila- 
delphia. It is likewise said that the expenses of the planters 
are generally one or two years in advance of their income. 
Whether these statements be true or not, the most casual 
observer will decide, that the free States are uniformly the 
most prosperous, notwithstanding the South possesses a po- 
litical power, by which she manages to check-mate us at 
every important move. When we add this to the original 
jealousy spoken of by Mr. Madison, it is not wonderful that 
Southern politicians take so little pains to conceal their strong 
dislike of the North. 

A striking difference of manners, also caused by slavery, 
serves to aggravate other differences. Slaveholders have 



>12 INFLUENCE OF SLAVERY ON THE 

the habit of command ; and from the superior ease with 
which it sits upon them, they seem to imagine that they were 
" born to command," and we to obey. In time of war, they 
tauntingly told us that we might furnish the men, and they 
would furnish the officers ; but in time of peace they find our 
list of pensioners so large, they complain that we did furnish 
so many men. 

At the North, every body is busy in some employment, 
and politics, with very few exceptions, form but a brief epi- 
sode in the lives of the citizens. But the Southern politi- 
cians are men of leisure. They have nothing to do but to 
ride round their plantations, hunt, attend the races, study 
politics for the next legislative or congressional campaign, 
and decide how to use the prodigious mechanical power, of 
slave representation, which a political Archimedes may ef- 
fectually wield for the destruction of commerce, or any thing 
else, involving the prosperity of the free States. * 

It has been already said, that most of the wealth in New- 
England was made by commerce ; consequently the South 
became unfriendly to commerce. There was a class in 
New-England, jealous, and not without reason, of thai r own 
commercial aristocracy. It was the policy of the South to 
foment their passions, and increase their prejudices. Thus 
was the old Democratic party formed ; and while that party 
honestly supposed they were merely resisting the encroach- 
ments of a nobility at home, they were actually playing a 
game for one of the most aristocratic classes in the world 
— viz. the Southern planters. A famous slave-owner and 
politician openly boasted, that the South could always put 
down the aristocracy of the North,, by' means of her own 
democracy. In this point of view, democracy becomes a 
machine used by one aristocratic class against another, that 
has less power, and is therefore less dangerous. 

There are features in the organization of society, resulting 
from slavery, which are conducive to any thing but the union 
of these States. A large class are without employment, are 

* The Hon. W. B. Seabrook, a southern gentleman, has lately written 
a pamphlet on the management of slaves, in which he says : "An addi- 
tion of one million dollars to the private fortune of Daniel Webster, would 
not give to Massachusetts more than she now possesses in the federal 
councils. On the other hand, every increase of slave property in South 
Carolina, is a fraction thrown into the scale, by which her representation 
in Congress is determined." 



POLITICS OF THE UNITED STATES. 113 

accustomed to command, and have a strong contempt for 
habits of industry. This class, like the nobility of feudal times, 
are restless, impetuous, eager for excitement, and prompt to 
settle all questions with the sword. Like the fierce old 
barons, at the head of their vassals, they are ever ready to 
resist and nullify the central power of the State, whenever 
it interferes with their individual interests, or even approaches 
the strong holds of their prejudices. All history shows, that 
men possessing hereditary, despotic power, cannot easily be 
brought to acknowledge a superior, either in the adminis. 
trators of the laws, or in the law itself. It was precisely 
such a class of men that covered Europe with camps, for 
upwards of ten centuries. 

A Southern governor has dignified duelling with the name 
of an "institution;" and the planters generally, seem to 
regard it as among those which they have denominated their 
" peculiar institutions." General Wilkinson, who was the 
son of a slave-owner, expresses in his memoirs, great abhor, 
rence of duelling, and laments the powerful influence which 
his father's injunction, when a boy, had upon his after life : 
" James," said the old gentleman, " if you ever take an in- 
suit, I will disinherit you." 

A young lawyer, who went from Massachusetts to reside 
at the South, has frequently declared that he could not take 
any stand there as a lawyer, or a gentleman, until he had 
fought : he was subject to continual insult and degradation, 
until he had evinced his readiness to kill, or be killed. It 
is obvious that such a state of morals elevates mere physical 
courage into a most undue importance. There are indeed 
emergencies, when all the virtues, and all the best affections 
of man, are intertwined with personal bravery ; but this is 
not the kind of courage, which makes duelling in fashion. 
The patriot nobly sacrifices himself for the good of others ; 
the duellist wantonly sacrifices others to himself. 

Browbeating, which is the pioneer of the pistol, charac- 
terizes, particularly of late years, the Southern legislation. 
By these means, they seek to overawe the Representatives 
from the free States, whenever any question even remotely 
connected with slavery is about to be discussed ; and this, 
united with our strong reverence for the Union, has made 
our legislators shamefully cautious with regard to a subject, 
which peculiarly demands moral courage, and an abandon- 
ment of selfish considerations. If a member of Congress 

10* 



114 INFLUENCE OF SLAVERY ON THE 

does stand his ground firmly, if he wants no preferment or 
profit, which the all-powerful Southern influence can give, 
an effort is then made to intimidate him. The instances are 
numerous in which Northern men have been insulted and 
challenged by their Southern brethren, in consequence of 
the adverse influence they exerted over the measures of the 
Federal government. This turbulent evil exists only in our 
slave States ; and the peace of the country is committed to 
their hands whenever twenty-five votes in Congress can turn 
the scale in favor of war. 

The statesmen of the South have generally been planters. 
Their agricultural products must pay the merchants — foreign 
and domestic, — the ship-owner, the manufacturer, — and all 
others concerned in the exchange or manipulation of them. 
It is universally agreed that the production of the raw ma- 
terials is the least profitable employment of capital. The 
planters have always entertained a jealous dislike of those 
engaged in the more profitable business of the manufacture 
and exchange of products ; particularly as the existence of 
slavery among them destroys ingenuity and enterprise, and 
compels them to employ the merchants,, manufacturers, and 
sailors, of the free States.* Hence there has ever been a 
tendency to check New- England, whenever she appears to 
shoot up with vigorous rapidity. Whether she tries to live 
by hook or by crook, there is always an effort to restrain her 
within certain limited bounds. The embargo, passed with- 
out limitation of time, (a thing unprecedented,) was fastened 
upon the bosom of her commerce, until life was extinguished. 
The ostensible object of this measure, was to force Great 
Britain to terms, by distressing the West Indies for food. 
But while England commanded the seas, her colonies were 
not likely to starve ; and for the sake of this doubtful exper- 
iment, a certain and incalculable injury was inflicted upon 
the Northern States. Seamen, and the numerous classes 
of mechanics connected with navigation, were thrown out 
of employment, as suddenly as if they had been cast on a 
desert island by some convulsion of nature. Thousands of 
families were ruined by that ill-judged measure. Has any 
government a right to inflict so much direct suffering on a 
very large portion of their own people, for the sake of an 

* Virginia has great natural advantages for becoming a manufacturing 
country ; but slavery, that does evil to all and good to none, produces a 
state of things which renders that impossible. 



POLITICS OF THE UNITED STATES. 115 

indirect and remote evil which may possibly be inflicted on 
an enemy ? 

It is true, agriculture suffered as well as commerce ; but 
agricultural products could be converted into food and cloth- 
ing ; they would not decay like ships, nor would the pro- 
ducers be deprived of employment and sustenance, like those 
connected with navigation. 

Whether this step was intended to paralyze the North or 
not, it most suddenly and decidedly produced that effect. 
We were told that it was done to save our commerce from 
falling into the hands of the English and French. But our 
merchants earnestly entreated not to be thus saved. At the 
very moment of the embargo, underwriters were ready to 
insure at the usual rates. 

The non-intercourse was of the same general character 
as the embargo, but less offensive and injurious. The war 
crowned this course of policy ; and like the other measures, 
was carried by slave votes. It was emphatically a Southern, 
not a national war. Individuals gained glory by it, and 
many of them nobly deserved it ; but the amount of benefit 
which the country derived from that war might be told in 
much fewer words than would enumerate the mischiefs it 
produced. 

The commercial States, particularly New-England, have 
been frequently reproached for not being willing to go to 
War for the protection of their own interests ; and have been 
charged with pusillanimity and ingratitude for not warmly 
seconding those who were so zealous to defend their cause. 
Mr. Hayne, during the great debate with Mr. Webster, in 
the Senate, made use of this customary sarcasm. It is 
revived whenever the sectional spirit of the South, or party 
spirit in the North, prompts individuals to depreciate the 
talents and character of any eminent Northern man. The 
Southern States have even gone so far on this subject, as to 
assume the designation of " patriot States ," in contra-distinc- 
tion to their northern neighbors — and this too, while Bunker 
Hill and Faneuil Hall are still standing ! It certainly was 
a pleasant idea to exchange the appellation of slave States 
for that of patriot States — it removed a word which in a re- 
public is unseemly and inconsistent. 

Whatever may be thought of the justice and expediency 
of the last war, it was certainly undertaken against the 
earnest wishes of the commercial States — two thirds of the 



116 INFLUENCE OF SLAVERY ON THE 

Representatives from those States voted in opposition to the 
measure. According to the spirit of the constitution it ought 
not to have passed unless there were two thirds in favor of it. 
Why then should the South have insisted upon conferring a 
boon, which was not wanted ; and how happened it, that 
Yankees, with all their acknowledged shrewdness in money- 
matters, could never to this day perceive how they were pro- 
tected by it ? Yet New-England is reproached with cow- 
ardice and ingratitude to her Southern benefactors ! If one 
man were to knock another down with a broad -axe, in the 
attempt to brush a fly from his face, and then blame him for 
not being sufficiently thankful, it would exactly illustrate the 
relation between the North and the South on this subject. 

If the protection of commerce had been the real object of 
the war, would not some preparations have been made for 
a navy ? It was ever the policy of the slave States to de- 
stroy the navy. Vast conquests by land were contemplated, 
for the protection of Northern commerce. Whatever was 
intended, the work of destruction was done. The policy of 
the South stood for awhile like a giant among ruins. New- 
England received a blow, which crushed her energies, but 
could not annihilate them. Where the system of {ree labor 
prevails, and there is work of any kind to be done, there is 
a safety-valve provided for any pressure. In such a com- 
munity there is a vital and active principle, which cannot be 
long repressed. You may dam up the busy waters, but they 
will sweep away obstructions, or force a new channel. 

Immediately after the peace, when commerce again began 
to try her broken wings, the South took care to keep her 
down, by multiplying permanent embarrasments, in the shape 
of duties. The direct tax (which would have borne equally 
upon them, and which in the original compact was the equiv- 
alent for slave representation,) was forthwith repealed, and 
commerce was burdened with the payment of the national 
debt. The encouragement of manufactures, the consump- 
tion of domestic products, or living within ourselves, was then 
urged upon us. This was an ancient doctrine of the demo- 
cratic party. Mr. Jefferson was its strongest advocate. 
Did he think it likely to bear unfavorably upon " the nation 
of shopkeepers and pedlers ?"* The Northerners adopted 
it with sincere views to economy, and more perfect inde- 

* Mr. Jefferson's description of New-England. 



POLITICS OF THE UNITED STATES. 117 

pendence. The duties were so adjusted as to embarrass 
commerce, and to guard the interests of a few in the North, 
who from patriotism, party spirit, or private interest, had 
established manufactures on a considerable scale. This sys- 
tem of protection opposed by the North, was begun in 1816 
by Southern politicians, and enlarged and confirmed by them 
in 1824. It was carried nearly as much by Southern influ- 
ence, as was the war itself; and if the votes were placed 
side by side, there could not be a doubt of the identity of 
the interests and passions, which lay concealed under both. 
But enterprise, that moral perpetual motion, overcomes all 
obstacles. Neat and flourishing villages rose in every val- 
ley of New-England. The busy hum of machinery made 
music with her neglected waterfalls. All her streams, like 
the famous Pactolus, flowed with gold. From her discour- 
aged and embarrassed commerce arose a greater blessing, 
apparently indestructible. Walls of brick and granite could 
not easily be overturned by the Southern lever, and left to 
decay, as the ship-timber had done. Thus Mordecai was 
again seated in the king's gate, by means of the very system 
intended for his ruin. As soon as this state of things be- 
came perceptible, the South commenced active hostility with 
manufactures. Doleful pictures of Southern desolation and 
decay were given, and all attributed to manufactures. The 
North was said to be plundering the South, while she, poor 
dame, was enriching her neighbors, and growing poor upon 
her extensive labors. (If this statement be true, how much 
gratitude do we owe the negroes;, for they do all the work 
that is done at the South. Their masters only serve to keep 
them in a condition, where they do not accomplish half as 
much as they otherwise would.) 

New-England seems to be like the poor lamb that tried 
to drink at the same stream with the wolf. " You make the 
water so muddy I can't drink," says the wolf: "I stand 
below you," replied the lamb, " and therefore it cannot be," 
"You did me an injury last year," retorted the wolf. " I 
was not born last year," rejoined the lamb. " Well, well," 
exclaimed the wolf, " then it was your father or mother. 
I'll eat you, at all events." 

The bitter discussions in Congress have grown out of this 
strong dislike to the free States ; and the crown of the whole 
policy is nullification. The single State of South Carolina 
has undertaken to abolish the revenues of the whole nation . 



118 INFLUENCE OF SLAVERY ON THE 

and threatened the Federal Government with cecession from 
the Union, in case the laws were enforced by any other 
means, than through the judicial tribunals. 

" It is not a little extraordinary that this new pretention 
of South Carolina, the State which above all others enjoys 
this unrequited privilege of excessive representation, released 
from all payment of the direct taxes, of which her proportion 
would be nearly double that of any non-slaveholding State, 
should proceed from that very complaint that she bears an 
unequal proportion of duties of imposts, which, by the con. 
stitution of the United States, are required to be uniform 
throughout the Union. Vermont, with a free population of 
two hundred and eighty thousand souls, has five represen- 
tatives in the popular House of Congress, and seven Electors 
for President and Vice-President. South Carolina, with a 
free population of less than two hundred and sixty thousand 
souls, sends nine members to the House of Representatives, 
and honors the Governor of Virginia with eleven votes for 
the office of President of the United States. If the rule of 
representation were the same for South Carolina and for 
Vermont, they would have the same number of Representa- 
tives in the House, and the same number of Electors for 
the choice of President and Vice-President. She has nearly 
double the number of both." 

What would the South have? They took the management 
at the very threshold of our government, and, excepting 
the rigidly just administration of Washington, they have 
kept it ever since. They claimed slave representation and 
obtained it. For their convenience the revenues were raised 
by imposts instead of direct taxes, and thus they give little 
or nothing in exchange for their excessive representation. 
They have increased the slave States, till they have twenty- 
five votes in Congress — They have laid the embargo, and 
declared war — They have controlled the expenditures of the 
nation — They have acquired Louisiana and Florida for an 
eternal slave market, and perchance for the manufactory of 
more slave States — They have given five presidents out of 
seven to the United States — And in their attack upon manu- 
factures, they have gained Mr. Clay's concession bill. " But 
all this availeth not, so long as Mordecai the Jew sitteth in the 
king's gate." The free States must be kept down. But change 
their policy as they will, free States cannot be kept down. 
There is but one way to ruin them ; and that is to make them 



POLITICS OP THE UNITED STATES. 119 

slave States. If the South with all her power and skill cannot 
manage herself into prosperity, it is because the difficulty lies 
at her own doors, and she will not remove it. At one time 
her deserted villages were attributed to the undue patronage 
bestowed upon settlers on the public lands : at another, the 
tariff is the cause of her desolation. Slavery, the real root 
of the evil, is carefully kept out of sight, as a "delicate sub. 
ject," which must not be alluded to. It is a singular fact in 
the present, age of the world, that delicate and indelicate 
subjects mean precisely the same thing. 

If any proof were wanted, that slavery is the cause of all 
this discord, it is furnished by Eastern and Western Virginia. 
They belong to the same State, and are protected by the 
same laws ; but in the former, the slaveholding interest is 
very strong — while in the latter, it is scarcely any thing. 
The result is, warfare, and continual complaints, and threats 
of separation. There are no such contentions between the 
different sections of free States; simply because slavery, the 
exciting cause of strife, does not exist among them. 

The constant threat of the slaveholding States is the dis- 
solution of the Union ; and they have repeated it with all the 
earnestness of sincerity, though there are powerful reasons 
why it would not be well for them to venture upon that un- 
tried state of being. In one respect only, are these threats 
of any consequence — they have familiarized the public mind 
with the subject of separation, and diminished the reverence, 
with which the free States have hitherto regarded the Union. 

The farewell advice of Washington operated like a spell 
upon the hearts and consciences of his countrymen. For 
many, many years after his death, it would almost have 
been deemed blasphemy to speak of separation as a possible 
event. I would that it still continued so ! But it is now an 
every-day occurrence, to hear politicians, of all parties, con- 
jecturing what system would be pursued by different sections 
of the country, in case of a dissolution of the Union. This 
evil is likewise chargeable upon slavery. The threats of 
separation have uniformly come from the slaveholding States ; 
and on many important measures the free States have been 
awed into acquiescence by their respect for the Union. 

Mr. Adams, in the able and manly report before alluded 
to, says : " It cannot be denied that in a community spreading 
over a large extent of territory, and politically founded upon 
the principles proclaimed in the Declaration of Independence, 



120 INFLUENCE OF SLAVERY ON THE 

but differing so widely in the elements of their social condi- 
tion, that the inhabitants of one-half the territory are wholly 
free, and those of the other half divided into masters and 
slaves, deep if not irreconcilable collisions of interest must 
abound. The question whether such a community can exist 
under one common government, is a subject of profound, phi- 
losophical speculation in theory. Whether it can continue 
long to exist, is a question to be solved only by the experi- 
ment now making by the people of this Union, under that 
national compact, the constitution of the United States." 

The admission of Missouri into the Union is another clear 
illustration of the slaveholding power. That contest was 
marked by the same violence, and the same threats, as have 
characterized nullification. On both occasions the planters 
were pitted against the commercial and manufacturing sec- 
tions of the country. On both occasions the democracy of 
the North was, by one means or another, induced to throw 
its strength upon the Southern lever, to increase its already 
prodigious power. On both, and on all occasions, some little 
support has been given to Northern principles in Maryland, 
Virginia, and North Carolina ; because in portions of those 
States there is a considerable commercial interest, and some 
encouragement of free labor. So true it is, in the minutest 
details, that slavery and freedom are always arrayed in 
opposition to each other. 

At the time of the Missouri question, the pestiferous effects 
of slavery had become too obvious to escape the observation 
of the most superficial statesman. The new free States ad- 
mitted into the Union enjoyed tenfold prosperity compared 
with the new slave States. Give a free laborer a barren 
rock, and he Will soon cover it with vegetation ; while the 
slave and his task-master, would change the garden of Eden 
to a desert. 

But Missouri must be admitted as a slave State, for two 
strong reasons. First, that the planters might perpetuate 
their predominant influence by adding to the slave represen- 
tation, — the power of which is always concentrated against 
the interests of the free States. Second, that a new market 
might be opened for their surplus slaves. It is lamentable 
to think that two votes in favor of Missouri slavery, were 
given by Massachusetts men ; and that those two votes would 
have turned the scale. The planters loudly threatened to 
dissolve the Union, if slavery were not extended beyond the 



POLITICS OF THE UNITED STATES. 121 

Mississippi. If the Union cannot be preserved without crime, 
it is an eternal truth that nothing good can be preserved by 
crime. The immense territories of Louisiana, Arkansas, 
and Florida, are very likely to be formed into slave States ; 
and every new vote on this side, places the free States more 
and more at the mercy of the South, and gives a renewed 
and apparently interminable lease to the duration of slavery. 

The purchase or the conquest of the Texas, is a favorite 
scheme with Southerners, because it would occasion such an 
inexhaustible demand for slaves. A gentleman in the Vir- 
ginia convention thought the acquisition of the Texas so 
certain, that he made calculations upon the increased value 
of negroes. We have reason to thank God that the jeal- 
ousy of ihe Mexican government places a barrier in that 
direction. 

The existence of slavery among us prevents the recog- 
nition of Haytian independence. That republic is fast in- 
creasing in wealth, intelligence and refinement. — Her com- 
merce is valuable to us and might become much more so. 
But our Northern representatives have never even made an 
effort to have her independence acknowledged, because a 
colored ambassador would be so disagreeable to our preju- 
dices. 

Few are aware of the extent of sectional dislike in this 
country ; and I would not speak of it, if I thought it pos- 
sible to add to it. The late John Taylor, a man of great 
natural talent, wrote a book on the agriculture of Virginia, 
in which he acknowledges impoverishment, but attributes it 
all to the mismanagement of overseers. In this work, Mr. 
Taylor has embodied more of the genuine spirit, the ethics 
and politics, of planters, than any other man ; excepting 
perhaps, John Randolph in his speeches. He treats mer- 
chants, capitalists, bankers, and all other people not planters, 
as so many robbers, who live by plundering the p.Uve-owner, 
apparently forgetting by what plunder they themselves live. 

Mr. Jefferson and other eminent men from the South, 
have occasionally betrayed the same strong prejudices ; but 
they were more 'guarded, lest the democracy of the North 
should be undeceived, and their votes lost. Mr. Taylor's 
book is in high repute in the Southern States, and its senti- 
ments widely echoed ; but it is little known here. 

A year or two since, I received a letter from a publisher 
who largely supplies the Southern market, in which he as- 
° 11 



122 INFLUENCE OF SLAVERY, ETC. 

sured me that no book from the North would sell at the 
South, unless the source from which it came, were carefully 
concealed ! Yet New-England has always yielded to South- 
ern policy in preference to uniting with the Middle States, 
with which she has, in most respects, a congeniality of in. 
terests and habits. It has been the constant policy of the 
slave States to prevent the free States from acting together. 

Who does not see that the American people are walking 
over a subterranean fire, the flames of which are fed by 
slavery ? 

The South no doubt gave her influence to General Jack- 
son, from the conviction that a slave-owner would support 
the slaveholding interest. The Proclamation against the 
nullifiers, which has given the President such sudden popu- 
larity at the North, has of course offended them. No per- 
son has a right to say that Proclamation is insincere. It 
will be extraordinary if a slave-owner does in reality depart 
from the uniform system of his brethren. In the President's 
last Message, it is maintained that the wealthy landholders, 
that is, the planters, are the best part of the population ;— - - 
it admits that the laws for raising of revenue by imposts 
have been in their operation oppressive to the South ; — it 
recommends a gradual withdrawing of protection from manu- 
factures ; — it advises that the public lands shall cease to be 
a source of revenue, as soon as practicable — that they be 
sold to settlers — and in a convenient time the disposal of the 
soil be surrendered to the States respectively in which it lies ; 
— lastly, the Message tends to discourage future appropria- 
tions of public money for purposes of internal improvement. 

Every one of these items is a concession to the slave- 
holding policy. If the public lands are taken from the na- 
tion, and given to the States in which the soil lies, who will 
get the largest share ? That best part of the population 
called planters. 

The Proclamation and the Message are very unlike each 
Other. Perhaps South Carolina is to obtain her own will by 
a route more certain, though more circuitous, than open re- 
bellion. Time will show. 



COLONIZATION SOCIETY, ETC. 123 



CHAPTER V. 

COLONIZATION SOCIETY, AND ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 



It is not madness 
That I have utter'd : — — For love of grace, 
Lay not that flattering unction to your soul, 
That not your trespass but my madness speaks : 
It will but skin arid film the ulcerous place ; 
While rank corruption, mining all within, 
Infects unseen. Confess yourself to Heaven ; 
Repent what's past ; avoid what is to come ; 
And do not spread the compost on the weeds, 
To make them ranker. Hamlet, Act III, Scene 2d. 

When doctrines meet with general approbation, 
It is not heresy, but reformation. Gakrick. 



So much excitement prevails with regard to these two 
societies at present, that it will be difficult to present a view of 
them which will be perfectly satisfactory to all. I shall say 
what appears to me to be candid and true, without any anx- 
iety as to whom it may please, and whom it may displease. 
I need not say that I have a decided predilection, because it 
has been sufficiently betrayed in the preceding pages ; and 
I allude to it for the sake of perfect sincerity, rather than 
from any idea that my opinion is important. 

The American Colonization Society was organized a little 
more than sixteen years ago at the city of Washington, cho- 
sen as the most central place in the Union. Auxiliary in- 
stitutions have since been formed in almost every part of the 
country ; and nearly all the distinguished men belong to it. 
The doing away of slavery in the United States, by gradu- 
ally removing all the blacks to Africa, has been generally 
supposed to be its object. The project at first excited some 
jealousy in the Southern States ; and the Society, in order 
to allay this, were anxious to make all possible concessions 
to slave-owners, in their Addresses, Reports, &c. In Mr. 
Clay's speech, printed in the first Annual Report of the So- 
ciety, he said, " It is far from the intention of this Society to 
affect, in any manner, the tenure by which a certain species 
of property is held. I am myself a slaveholder, and I con 



124 COLONIZATION SOCIETY, 

sider that kind of property as inviolable as any other in the 
country. I would resist encroachment upon it as soon, and 
with as much firmness, as I would upon ai^ other property 
that I hold. Nor am I prepared to go as far as the gentle- 
man who has just spoken, (Mr. Mercer) in saying that I 
would emancipate my slaves, if the means were provided of 
sending them from the country." 

At the same meeting Mr. Randolph said, " He thought it 
necessary, being himself a slaveholder, to show that so far 
from being in the smallest degree connected with the aboli- 
tion of slavery, the proposed Society would prove one of the 
greatest securities to enable the master to keep in possession 
his oivn property." 

In Mr. Clay's speech, in the second Annual Report, he 
declares : " It is not proposed to deliberate upon, or con- 
sider at all, any question of emancipation, or any that is 
connected with the abolition of slavery. On this condition 
alone gentlemen from the South and West can be expected to 
co-operate. On this condition only, I have myself aJended." 

In the seventh Annual Report it is said, " An effort for 
the benefit of the blacks, in which all parts of the country 
can unite, of course must not have the abolition of slavery 
for its immediate object ; nor may it aim directly at the in- 
struction of the blacks" 

Mr. Archer, of Virginia, fifteenth Annual Report, says : 
" The object of the Society, if I understand it aright, involves 
no intrusion on property, nor even upon prejudice ." 

In the speech of James S. Green, Esq. he says : " This 
Society have ever disavowed, and they do yet disavow that 
their object is the emancipation of slaves. They have no 
wish if they could to interfere in the smallest degree with 
what they deem the most interesting and fearful subject 
which can be pressed upon the American public. There is 
no people that treat their slaves with so much kindness and 
so little cruelty." 

In almost every address delivered before the Society, 
similar expressions occur. On the propriety of discussing 
the evils of slavery, without bitterness and without fear, 
good men may differ in opinion ; though I think the time is 
fast coming, when they will all agree. But by assuming 
the ground implied in the above remarks, the Colonization 
Society have fallen into the habit of glossing over the enor- 
mities of the slave system ; at least, it so appears to me. 



AND ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 125 

In their constitution they have pledged themselves not to 
speak, write, or do anything to offend the Southerners ; and 
as there is no possible way of making the truth pleasant 
to those who do not love it, the Society must perforce 
keep the truth out of sight. In many of their publications, 
I have thought I discovered a lurking tendency to palliate 
slavery ; or, at least to make the best of it. They often 
bring to my mind the words of Hamlet : 

"Forgive me this my virtue ; 
For in the fatness of these pursy times, 
Virtue itself of vice must pardon beg ; 
Yea, curb and woo, for leave to do him good." 

Thus in an Address delivered March, 1833, we are told, 
" It ought never to be forgotten that the slave-trade between 
Africa and America, had its origin in a compassionate en- 
deavor to relieve, by the substitution of negro labor, the toils 
endured by native Indians It was the simulated form of 
mercy that piloted the first slave-ship across the Atlantic." 

I am aware that Las Cases used this argument ; but it was 
less unbecoming in him than it is in a philanthropist of the 
present day. The speaker does indeed say that " the ' infi- 
nite of agonies' and the infinite of crime, since suffered and 
committed, proves that mercy cannot exist in opposition to 
justice." I can hardly realize what sort of a conscience it 
must be, that needed the demonstration. 

The plain truth was, the Spaniards were in a hurry for 
gpld ; they overworked the native Indians, who were incon- 
siderate enough to die in very inconvenient numbers ; but 
the gold must be had, and that quickly ; and so the Africans 
were forced to come and die in company with the Indians. 
And in the nineteenth century, we are told it is our duty not 
to forget that this was a " simulated form of mercy !" A 
dissimulated form would have been the better expression. 

If we may believe slave-owners, the whole system, from 
beginning to end, is a matter of mercy. They have de- 
scribed the Middle Passage, with its gags, fetters, and thumb- 
screws, as " the happiest period of a negro's life ;" they say 
they do the slaves a great charity in bringing them from 
barbarous Africa to a civilized and Christian country ; and 
on the plantation, under the whip of the driver, the negroes 
are so happy, that a West India planter publicly declared 
he could not look upon them, without wishing to be himself 
a slave. 

11* 



126 COLONIZATION SOCIETY, 

In the speech above referred to, we are told, that as to 
any political interference, " the slave States are foreign 
States. We can alienate their feelings until they become 
foreign enemies ; or, on the other hand, we can conciliate 
them until they become allies and auxiliaries in the sacred 
cause of emancipation." 

But so long as the South insist that slavery is unavoidable, 
and say they will not tolerate any schemes tending to. its 
abolition — and so long as the North take the necessity of 
slavery for an unalterable truth, and put down any discus- 
sions, however mild and candid, which tend to show that it 
may be done away with safety — so long as we thus strengthen 
each other's hands in evil, what remote hope is there of 
emancipation? If by political interference is meant hostile 
interference, or even a desire to promote insurrection, I 
should at once pronounca it to be most wicked ; but if by 
political interference is meant the liberty to investigate this 
subject, as other subjects are investigated — to inquire into 
what has been done, and what may be done — I say it is our 
sacred duty to do it. To enlighten public opinion is the best 
way that has yet been discovered for the removal of national 
evils ; and slavery is certainly a national evil. 

The Southern States, according to their own evidence, are 
impoverished by it ; a great amount of wretchedness and 
crime inevitably follows in its train ; the prosperity of the 
North is continually checked by it ; it promotes feelings of 
rivalry between the States ; it separates our interests ; makes 
our councils discordant ; threatens the destruction of our 
government ; and disgraces us in the eyes of the world. I 
have often heard Americans who have been abroad, declare 
that nothing embarrassed them so much as being questioned 
about our slaves ; and that nothing was so mortifying as to 
have the pictures of runaway negroes pointed at in the 
newspapers of this republic. La Fayette, with all his ad- 
miration for our institutions, can never speak of the subject 
without regret and shame. 

Now a common evil certainly implies a common right to 
remedy ; and where is the remedy to be found, if the South 
in all their speeches and writings repeat that slavery must 
exist — if the Colonization Society re-echo, in all their Ad- 
dresses and Reports, that there is no help for the evil, and 
it is very wicked to hint that there is — and if public opinion 
here brands every body as a fanatic and madman, who 



AND ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 127 

wishes to inquire what can be done ? The supineness of 
New-England on this subject, reminds me of the man who 
being asked to work at the pump, because the vessel was 
going down, answered, " I am only a passenger." 

An error often and urgently repeated is apt to receive the 
sanction of truth ; and so it is in this case. The public 
take it for granted that slavery is a "lamentable necessity." 
Nevertheless there is a way to effect its cure, if we all join 
sincerely, earnestly, and kindly in the work ; but if we ex- 
pend our energies in palliating the evil, or mourning over its 
hopelessness, or quarrelling about who is the most to blame 
for it, the vessel, — crew, passengers, and all, — will go down 
together. 

I object to the Colonization Society, because it tends to 
put public opinion asleep, on a subject where it needs to be 
wide awake. 

The address above alluded to, does indeed inform us of 
one thing which we are at liberty to do : " We must go to 
the master and adjure him, by all the sacred rights of 
humanity, by all the laws of natural justice, by his dread 
responsibilities, — which, in the economy of Providence, are 
always co-extensive and commensurate with power, — to raise 
the slave out of his abyss of degradation, to give him a par- 
ticipation in the benefits of mortal existence, and to make 
him a member of the intellectual and moral world, from 
which he, and his fathers, for so many generations, have 
been exiled." The practical utility of such a plan needs no 
comment. Slave-owners will smile when they read it. 

I will for a moment glance at what many suppose is still 
the intention of the Colonization Society, viz., gradually to 
remove all the blacks in the United States. The Society 
has been in operation more than fifteen years, during which 
it has transported between two and three thousand free 
people of color. There are in the United States two million 
of slaves and three hundred thousand free blacks ; and their 
numbers are increasing at the rate of seventy thousand an- 
nually. While the Society have removed less than three 
thousand, — five hundred thousand have been born. While 
one hundred and fifty free blacks have been sent to Africa 
in a year, two hundred slaves have been born in a day. To 
keep the evil just where it is, seventy thousand a year must 
be transported. How many ships, and how many millions 
of money, would it require to do this ? It would cost three 



128 COLONIZATION SOCIETY, 

million five hundred thousand dollars a year, to provide for 
the safety of our Southern brethren in this way ! To use the 
language of Mr. Hayne, it would " bankrupt the treasury of 
the world" to execute the scheme. And if such a great 
number could be removed annually, how would the poor 
fellows subsist ? Famines have already been produced even 
by the few that have been sent. What would be the result 
of landing several thousand destitute beings, even on the 
most fertile of our own cultivated shores ? 

And why should they be removed? Labor is greatly 
needed, and we are glad to give good wages for it. We 
encourage emigration from all parts of the world ; why is 
it not good policy, as well as good feeling, to improve the 
colored people, and pay them for the use of their faculties ? 
For centuries to come, the means of sustenance in this vast 
country must be much greater than the population ; then 
why should we drive away people, whose services may be 
most useful ? If the moral cultivation of negroes received the 
attention it ought, thousands and thousands would at the 
present moment be gladly taken up in families, factories, &c. 
And, like other men, they ought to be allowed to fit them- 
selves for more important usefulness, as far and as fast as 
they can. 

There will, in all human probability, never be any de- 
crease in the black population of the United States. Here 
they are, and here they must remain, in very large numbers, 
do what we will. We may at once agree to live together 
in mutual good-will, and perform a mutual use to each other 
— or we may go on, increasing tyranny on one side, and 
jealousy and revenge on the other, until the fearful elements 
complete their work of destruction, and something better 
than this sinful republic rises on the ruins. Oh, how ear- 
nestly do I wish that we may choose the holier and safer path ! 

To transport the blacks in such annual numbers as has 
hitherto been done, cannot have any beneficial effect upon 
the present state of things. It is Dame Partington with her 
pail mopping up the rushing waters of the Atlantic ! So far 
as this gradual removal has any effect, it tends to keep up 
the price of slaves in the market, and thus perpetuate the 
system. A writer in the Kentucky Luminary, speaking 
of colonization, uses the following argument : " None are 
obliged to follow our example ; and those who do not, will find 
the value of their negroes # creased by the departure of ours." 



AND ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 129 

If the value of slaves is kept up, it will be a strong tempta 
tion to smuggle in the commodity ; and thus while one ves- 
sel carries them out. from America, another will be bringing 
them in from Africa. This would be like dipping up the 
water of Chesapeake Bay into barrels, conveying it across 
the Atlantic, and emptying it into the Mediterranean : the 
Chesapeake would remain as full as ever, and by the time 
the vessel returned, wind and waves would have brought the 
same water back again. 

Slaveowners have never yet, in any part of the world, 
been known to favor, as a body, any scheme, which could 
ultimately tend to abolish slavery ; yet in this country, they 
belong to the Colonization Society in large numbers, and 
agree to pour from their State treasuries into its funds. In- 
dividuals object to it, it is true ; but the scheme is very 
generally favored in the slave States. 

The following extract from Mr. Wood's speech in the 
Legislature of Virginia, will show upon what ground the 
owners of slaves are willing to sanction any schemes of be- 
nevolence. The " Colonization Society may be a part of 
the grand system of the Ruler of the Universe, to provide 
for the transfer of negroes to their mother country. Their 
introduction into this land may have been one of the inscruta- 
ble ways of Providence to confer blessings upon that race — 
it may have been decreed that they shall be the means of 
conveying to the minds of their benighted countrymen, the 
blessing of religious and civil liberty. But I fear there is 
little ground to believe the means have yet been created to 
effect so glorious a result, or that the present race of slaves 
are to be benefited by such a removal. J shall trust that 
many of them may be carried to the south-western States as 
slaves. Should this door be closed, how can Virginia get 
rid of so large a number as are now annually deported to the 
different States and Territories where slaves are wanted ? 
Can the gentleman show us how from twelve thousand to 
twenty thousand can be annually carried to Liberia ?" 

Yet notwithstanding such numbers of mothers and children 
are yearly sent from a single State, " separately or in lots," 
to supply the demands of the internal slave-trade, Mr. Hayne, 
speaking of freeing these people and sending them away, 
says : " It is wholly irreconcilable with our notions of hu- 
manity to tear asunder the tender ties, which they had formed 
among us to gratify the feelings of a false philanthropy !" 



130 COLONIZATION SOCIETY, 

As for the removal of blacks from this country, the real 
fact is this ; the slave States are very desirous to get rid of 
their troublesome surplus of colored population, and they 
are willing that we should help to pay for the transportation. 
A double purpose is served by this ; for the active benevo- 
lence which is eager to work in the cause, is thus turned 
into a harmless and convenient channel. Neither the 
planters nor the Colonization Society, seem to ask what 
right we have to remove people from the places where they 
have been born and brought up, — where they have a home, 
which, however miserable, is still their home, — and where 
their relatives and acquaintances all reside. Africa is no 
more their native country than England is ours,* — nay, it is 
less so, because there is no community of language or habits; 
— besides, we cannot say to them, as Gilpin said to his horse, 
" 'Twas for your pleasure you came here, you shall go back 
for mine." 

In the Virginia debate of 1832, it was agreed that very 
few of the free colored people would be willing to go to 
Africa ; and this is proved by several petitions from them, 
praying for leave to remain. One of the Virginian legisla- 
tors said, " either moral or physical force must be used to 
compel them to go ;" some of them advised immediate coer- 
cion ; others recommended persuasion first, until their num- 
bers were thinned, and coercion afterward. I believe the 
resolution finally passed the House without any proviso of 
this sort ; and I mention it merely to show that it was gen- 
erally supposed the colored people would be unwilling to go. 

The planters are resolved to drive the free blacks away ; 
and it is another evil of the Colonization Society that their 
funds and their influence co-operate with them in this pro- 
ject. They do not indeed thrust the free negroes off, at the 
point of the bayonet ; but they make their laws and customs 
so very unequal and oppressive, that the poor fellows are 
surrounded by raging fires on every side, and must leap 
into the Atlantic for safety. In slave ethics I suppose this 
is called " moral force." If the slave population is left to 
its own natural increase, the crisis will soon come ; for labor 

* At the close of the last war, General Jackson issued a proclamation 
to the colored people of the South, in which he says : " I knew that you 
loved the land of your nativity, and that, like ourselves, you had to defend 
all that is dear to man. But you surpass my hopes. I have found in 
you, united to those qualities, that noble enthusiasm which impels to great 
deeds." 



AND ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 131 

will be so very cheap that slavery will not be for the interest 
of the whites. Why should we retard this crisis? 

In the next place, many of the Colonizationists (I do not 
suppose it applies to all) are averse to giving the blacks a 
good education ; and they are not friendly to the establish- 
ment of schools and colleges for that purpose. Now I would 
ask any candid person why colored children should not be 
educated ? Some say, it will raise them above their situa- 
tion ; I answer, it will raise them in their situation — not 
above it. When a High School for white girls was first 
talked of in this city, several of the wealthy class objected 
to it ; because, said they, " if everybody is educated, we 
shall have no servants." This argument is based on selfish- 
ness, and therefore cannot stand. If carried into operation, 
the welfare of many would be sacrificed to the convenience 
of a few. We might as well protest against the sunlight, 
for the benefit of lamp-oil merchants. Of all monopolies, a 
monopoly of knowledge is the worst. Let it be as active as 
the ocean — as free as the wind — as universal as the sun- 
beams ! Lord Brougham said very wisely, "If the higher 
classes are afraid of being left in the rear, they likewise 
must hasten onward." 

With our firm belief in the natural inferiority of negroes, 
it is strange we should be so much afraid that knowledge 
will elevate them quite too high for our convenience. In the 
march of improvement, we are several centuries in advance ; 
and if, with this obstacle at the very beginning, they can out- 
strip us, why then, in the name of justice, let them go ahead ! 
Nay, give them three cheers as they pass. If any nation, 
or any class of men, can obtain intellectual pre-eminence, it 
is a sure sign they deserve it ; and by this republican rule 
the condition of the world will be regulated as surely as the 
waters find their level. 

Besides, like all selfish policy, this is not true policy. The 
more useful knowledge a person has, the better he fulfils his 
duties in any station ; and there is no kind of knowledge, 
high or low, which may not be brought into use. 

But it has been said, that information will make the blacks 
discontented ; because, if ever so learned, they will not be 
allowed to sit at the white man's table, or marry the white 
man's daughter. 

In relation to this question, I would ask, " Is there any- 
body so high, that they do not see others above them?" 



132 COLONIZATION SOCIETY, 

The working classes of this country have no social comjmn 
nication with the aristocracy. Every day of my life I see 
people who can dress better, and live in better houses, than 
I can afford. There are many individuals who would not 
choose to make my acquaintance, because I am not of their 
caste — but I should speak a great untruth, if I said this made 
me discontented. They have their path and I have mine ; 
I am happy in my own way, and am willing they should be 
happy in theirs. If asked whether what little knowledge I 
have produces discontent, I should answer, that it made me 
happier, infinitely happier, than I could be without it. 

Under every form of government, there will be distinct 
classes of society, which have only occasional and transient 
communication with each other ; and the colored people, 
whether educated or not, will form one of these classes. 
By giving them means of information, we increase their hap- 
piness, and make them better members of society. I have 
often heard it said that there was a disproportionate number 
of crimes committed by the colored people in this State. 
The same thing is true of the first generation of Irish emi- 
grants; but we universally attribute it to their ignorance, 
and agree that the only remedy is to give their children as 
good an education as possible. If the policy is wise in one 
instance, why would it not be so in the other ! 

As for the possibility of social intercourse between the dif- 
ferent colored races, / have not the slightest objection to it, 
provided they were equally virtuous, and equally intelligent ; 
but I do not wish to war with the prejudices of others ; I am 
willing that all, who consult their consciences, should keep 
them as long as ever they can. One thing is certain, the 
blacks will never come into your houses, unless you ask 
them ; and you need not ask them unless you choose. They 
are very far from being intrusive in this respect. 

With regard to marrying your daughters, I believe the 
feeling in opposition to such unions is quite as strong among 
the colored class, as it is among white people. While the 
prejudice exists, such instances must be exceedingly rare, 
because the consequence is degradation in society. Believe 
me, you may safely trust to any thing that depends on the 
pride and selfishness of unregenerated human nature. 

Perhaps, a hundred years hence, some negro Rothschild 
may come from Hayti, with his seventy million of pounds, 
and persuade some white woman to sacrifice herself to him. 



AND ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 133 

— Stranger things than this do happen every year. — But 
before that century has passed away, I apprehend there will 
be a sufficient number of well-informed and elegant colored 
women in the world, to meet the demands of colored patricians. 
Let the sons and daughters of Africa both be educated, and 
then they will be fit for each other. They will not be forced 
to make war upon their white neighbors for wives : nor will 
they, if they have intelligent women of their own, see any 
thing so very desirable in the project. Shall we keep this 
class of people in everlasting degradation, for fear one of 
their descendants may marry our great-great-great-great- 
grandchild ? 

While the prejudice exists, such unions cannot take place ; 
and when the prejudice is melted away, they will cease to be 
a degradation, and of course cease to be an evil. 

My third and greatest objection to the Colonization Society 
is, that its members write and speak, both in public and pri- 
vate, as if the prejudice against skins darker colored than 
our own, was a fixed and unalterable law of our nature, 
which cannot possibly be changed. The very existence of 
the Society is owing to this prejudice : for if we could make 
all the colored people white, or if they could be viewed as 
impartially as if they were white, what would be left for the 
Colonization Society to do ? Under such circumstances, 
they would have a fair chance to rise in their moral and in- 
tellectual character, and we should be glad to have them 
remain among us, to give their energies for our money, as 
the Irish, the Dutch, and people from all parts of the world 
are now doing. 

I am aware that some of the Colonizationists make large 
professions on this subject ; but nevertheless we are con- 
stantly told by this Society, that people of color must be re- 
moved, not only because they are in our way, but because 
they must always be in a state of degradation here — that 
they never can have all the rights and privileges of citizens 
— and all this is because the prejudice is so gi'.-eat. 

" The managers consider it clear that causes exist and 
are operating to prevent their (the blacks) improvement and 
elevation to any considerable extent as a class, in this coun- 
try, which are fixed, not only beyond the control of the 
friends of humanity, but of any human power. Christianity 
will not do for them here, what it will do for them in Africa. 
This is not the fault of the colored man, nor Christianity 

12 



134 COLONIZATION SOCIETY, 

but an ordination of Providence, and no more to be changed 
than the laws of Nature !" — Last Annual Report of Ameri- 
can Colonization Society. 

" The habits, the feelings, all the prejudices of society — 
prejudices which neither refinement, nor argument, nor edu- 
cation, nor religion itself, can subdue — mark the people 
of color, whether bond or free, as the subjects of degradation 
inevitable and incurable. .The African in this country be- 
longs by birth to the very lowest station in society ; and from 
that station he can never rise, be his talents, his enterprise, 
his virtues, what they may. They constitute a class by them- 
selves — a class out of which no individual can be elevated, 
and below which none can be depressed." — African Reposi- 
tory, vol. iv, pp. 118, 119. 

This is shaking hands with iniquity, and covering sin with 
a silver veil. Our prejudice against the blacks is founded 
in sheer pride ; and it originates in the circumstance that 
people of their color only, are universally allowed to be slaves. 
We made slavery, and slavery makes the prejudice. No 
christian, who questions his own conscience, can justify him- 
self in indulging the feeling. The removal of this prejudice 
is not a matter of opinion — it is a matter of duty. We have 
no right to palliate a feeling, sinful in itself, and highly in- 
jurious to a large number of our fellow-beings. Let us no 
longer act upon the narrow-minded idea, that we must al- 
ways continue to do wrong, because we have so long been 
in the habit of doing it. That there is no necessity for the 
prejudice is shown by facts. In England, it exists to a much 
less degree than it does here. If a respectable colored per- 
son enters a church there, the pews are readily opened to 
him ; if he appears at an inn, room is made for him at the 
table, and no laughter, or winking, reminds him that he be- 
longs to an outcast race. A highly respectable English 
gentleman residing in this country has often remarked that 
nothing filled him with such utter astonishment as our pre- 
judice with regard to color. There is now in old England 
a negro, with whose name, parentage, and history, I am 
well acquainted, who was sold into West Indian slavery by 
his New-England master; (I know his name.) The unfor- 
tunate negro became free by the kindness of an individual, 
and has now a handsome little property and the command 
of a vessel. He must take care not to come into the ports 
of our Southern republics ! — The anecdote of Prince Saun- 



AND ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 135 

ders is well known ; but it will bear repeating. He called 
upon an American family, then residing in London. The 
fashionable breakfast hour was very late, and the family 
were still seated at the table. The lady fidgetted between 
the contending claims of politeness and prejudice. At last, 
when all but herself had risen from the table, she said, as if 
struck by a sudden thought, " Mr. Saunders, I forgot to ask 
if you had breakfasted." " I thank you, madam," replied 
the colored gentleman ; " but I have engaged to breakfast 
with the Prince Regent this morning." 

Mr. Wilberforce and Mr. Brougham have often been seen 
in the streets of London, walking arm in arm with people 
of color. The same thing is true of Brissot, La Fayette, 
and several other distinguished Frenchmen. In this city, I 
never but once saw such an instance : When the Philadel- 
phia company were here last summer, I met one of the offi- 
cers walking arm in arm with a fine-looking black musician. 
The circumstance gave me a good deal of respect for the 
white man ; for I thought he must have kind feelings and 
correct principles, thus fearlessly to throw off a worse than 
idle prejudice. 

In Brazil, people of color are lawyers, clergymen, mer- 
chants and military officers; and in the Portuguese, as well 
as the Spanish settlements, intermarriages bring no degra- 
dation. On the shores of the Levant, some of the wealth- 
iest merchants are black. If we were accustomed to see 
intelligent and polished negroes, the prejudice would soon 
disappear. There is certainly no law of our nature which 
makes a dark color repugnant to our feelings. We admire 
the swarthy beauties of Spain ; and the finest forms of stat- 
uary are often preferred in bronze. If the whole world 
were allowed to vote on the question, there would probably 
be a plurality in favor of complexions decidedly dark. Every 
body knows how much the Africans were amused at the sight 
of Mungo Park, and what an ugly misfortune they considered 
his pale color, prominent nose, and thin lips. 

Ought we to be called Christians, if we allow a prejudice 
so absurd to prevent the improvement of a large portion of 
the human race, and interfere with what all civilized nations 
consider the most common rights of mankind ? It cannot be 
that my enlightened and generous countrymen will sanction 
any thing so narrow-minded and so selfish. 

Having found much fault with the Colonization Society, 



136 COLONIZATION SOCIETY, 

it is pleasant to believe that one portion of their enterprise 
affords a distant prospect of doing more good than evil. 
They now principally seek to direct the public attention to 
the founding of a colony in Africa ; and this may prove 
beneficial in process of time. If the colored emigrants were 
educated before they went there, such a Colony would tend 
slowly, but certainly, to enlighten Africa, to raise the char- 
acter of the negroes, to strengthen the increasing liberality 
of public opinion, and to check the diabolical slave-trade. 
If the Colonizationists will work zealously and judiciously 
in this department, pretend to do nothing more, and let others 
work in another and more efficient way, they will deserve 
the thanks of the country ; but while it is believed that they 
do all the good which can be done in this important cause, 
they will do more harm in America, than they can atone for 
in Africa. 

Very different pictures are drawn of Liberia ; one party 
represents it as thriving beyond description, the other insists 
that it will soon fall into ruin. ' It is but candid to suppose 
that the colony is going on as well as could possibly be ex- 
pected, when we consider that the emigrants are almost uni- 
versally ignorant and vicious, without property, and without 
habits of industry or enterprise. The colored people in our 
slave States must, almost without exception, be destitute of 
information ; and in choosing negroes to send away, the 
masters would be very apt to select the most helpless and 
the most refractory. Hence the superintendents of Liberia 
have made reiterated complaints of being flooded with ship- 
loads of " vagrants." These causes are powerful draw- 
backs. But the negroes in Liberia have schools and churches, 
and they have freedom, which, wherever it exists, is always 
striving to work its upward way. 

There is a palpable contradiction in some of the statements 
of this Society. 

" We are told that the Colonization Society is to civilize 
and evangelize Africa. ' Each emigrant,'' says Henry Clay, 
the ablest advocate which the Society has yet found, ' is a 
missionary, carrying with him credentials in the holy cause 
of civilization, religion and free institutions ! !' " 

" Who are these emigrants — these missionaries ?" 

" The Free people of color. ' They, and they only,'' says 
the African Repository, ' are qualified for colonizing Af. 



AND ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 137 

" What are their qualifications ? Let the Society answer 
in its own words : 

" ' Free blacks are a greater nuisance than even slaves 
themselves.' " — African Repository, vol. ii, p. 328. 

" ' A horde of miserable people — the objects of universal 
suspicion — subsisting by plunder.' " — C. F. Mercer. 

" ' An anomalous race of beings, the most debased upon 
earth.' " — African Repository, vol. vii, p. 230. 

"' Of all classes of our population the most vicious is that 
of the free colored.' " — Tenth Annual Report of Colonization 
Society. 

An Education Society has been formed in connection with 
the Colonization Society, and their complaint is principally 
that they cannot find proper subjects for instruction. Why 
cannot such subjects be found ? Simply because our fero- 
cious prejudices compel the colored children to grow up in 
ignorance and vicious companionship, and when we seek to 
educate them, we find their minds closed against the genial 
influence of knowledge. 

When I heard of the Education Society, I did hope to find 
one instance of sincere, thorough disinterested good-will for 
the blacks. But in the constitution of that Society, I again 
find the selfish principle predominant. They pledge them- 
themselves to educate no colored persons unless they are 
solemnly bound to quit the country. The abolitionists are 
told that they must wait till the slaves are more fit for free- 
dom. But if this system is pursued, when are they to be 
more fit for freedom? — Never — never — to the end of time. 

Whatever other good the Colonization Society may do, it 
seems to me evident that they do not produce any beneficial 
effect on the condition of colored people in America; and 
indirectly they produce much evil. 

In a body so numerous as the Colonization Society, there 
is, of course, a great variety of character and opinions. I 
presume that many among them believe the ultimate ten- 
dency of the Society to be very different from what it really 
is. Some slave-owners encourage it because they think it 
cannot decrease slavery, and will keep back the inconve- 
nient crisis when free labor will be cheaper than slave labor; 
others of the same class join it because they really want to 
do some act of kindness to the unfortunate African race, and 
all the country insist upon it that this is the only way ; some 
politicians in the free States countenance it from similar mo- 

12* 



138 COLONIZATION SOCIETY, 

tives, and because less cautious measures might occasion a 
loss of Southern votes and influence ; the time-serving class 
— so numerous in every community, — who are always ready 
to flatter existing prejudices, and sail smoothly along the 
current of popular favor, join it, of course ; but I am willing 
to believe that the largest proportion belong to it, because 
they have compassionate hearts, are fearful of injuring 
their Southern brethren, and really think there is no other 
way of doing so much good to the negroes. With this last- 
mentioned class, I sympathize in feeling, but differ in opinion. 
The Anti-Slavery Society was formed in January, 1832. 
Its objects are distinctly stated in the second Article of their 
constitution, which is as follows : 

" Art. 2. The objects of the Society shall be, to endeavor by all means 
sanctioned by law, humanity and religion, to effect the abolition of slavery 
in the United States ; to improve the character and condition of the free 
people of color, to inform and correct public opinion in relation to their 
situation and rights, and obtain for them equal civil and political rights 
and privileges with the whites." 

From this it will be seen that they think it a duty to give 
colored people all possible means of education, and instead 
of removing them away from the prejudice, to remove the 
prejudice away from them. 

They lay it down as a maxim that immediate emancipa- 
tion is the only just course, and the only safe policy. They 
say that slavery is a common evil, and therefore there is a 
common right to investigate it, and search for modes of re- 
lief. They say that New- England shares, and ever has 
shared, in this national sin, and is therefore bound to atone 
for the mischief, as far as it can be done. 

The strongest reason why the Anti-Slavery Society wish 
for the emancipation of slaves, is because they think no other 
course can be pursued which does not, in its very nature, 
involve a constant violation of the laws of God. In the next 
place, they believe there is no other sure way of providing 
for the safety of the white population in the slave States. 
I know that many of the planters affect to laugh at the idea 
of fearing their slaves ; but why are their laws framed with 
such cautious vigilance ? Why must not negroes of different 
plantations communicate together? Why are they not al- 
lowed to be out in the evening, or to carry even a stick to 
defend themselves, in case of necessity ? 

In the Virginia Legislature a gentleman said, "It was 



AND ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 139 

high time for something to be done when men did not dare 
to open their own doors without pistols at their belts ;" and 
Mr. Randolph has publicly declared that a planter was merely 
" a sentry at his own door." 

Mr. Roane, of Virginia, asks, — " Is there an intelligent man 
who does not know that this excess of slavery is increasing, 
and will continue to increase in a ratio which is alarming in 
the extreme, and must overwhelm our descendants in ruin ? 
Why then should we shut our eyes and turn our backs upon 
the evil ? Will delay render it less gigantic, or give us more 
Herculean strength to meet and subdue it at a future time ? 
Oh, no — delay breeds danger — procrastination is the thief 
of time, and the refuge of sluggards." 

It is very true that insurrection is perfect madness on the 
part of the slaves ; for they are sure to be overpowered. 
But such madness has happened ; and innocent women and 
children have fallen victims to it. 

A few months ago, I was conversing with a very mild 
and judicious member of the Anti-Slavery Society, when a 
gentleman originally from the South came in. As he was 
an old acquaintance, and had been a long time resident in 
New-England, it was not deemed necessary, as a matter of 
courtesy, to drop the conversation. He soon became ex- 
cited. "Whatever you may think, Mrs. Child," said he, 
" the slaves are a great deal happier than either of us ; the 
less people know the more merry they are." I replied, " I 
heard you a short time since talking over your plans for 
educating your son ; if knowledge brings wretchedness, why 
do you not keep him in happy ignorance ?" " The fashion 
of the times requires some information," said he ; " but why 
do you concern yourself about the negroes? Why don't 
you excite the horses to an insurrection, because they are 
obliged to work, and are whipped if they do not?" "One 
horse does not whip another," said I ; " and besides, I do 
not wish to promote insurrections. I would on the contrary, 
do all I could to prevent them." " Perhaps you do not like 
the comparison between slaves and horses," rejoined he ; 
" it is true, the horses have the advantage." I made no 
reply ; for where such ground is assumed, what can be said ; 
besides, I did not then, and I do not now, believe that he 
expressed his real feelings. He was piqued, and spoke un- 
advisedly. This gentleman denied that the lot of the ne- 
groes was hard. He said they loved their masters, and 



140 COLONIZATION SOCIETY, 

their masters loved them ; and in any cases of trouble or 
illness, a man's slaves were his best friends. I mentioned 
some undoubted instances of cruelty to slaves ; he acknowl- 
edged that such instances might very rarely happen, but 
said that in general the masters were much more to be pitied 
than the negroes. A lady, who had been in South Carolina 
when an insurrection was apprehended, related several an- 
ecdotes concerning the alarm that prevailed there at the 
time : and added, " I often wish that none of my friends 
lived in a slave State." " Why should you be anxious?" 
rejoined the Southern gentleman ; " You know that they have 
built a strong citadel in the heart of the city, to which all the 
inhabitants can repair in case of insurrection." " So," said I, 
" they have built a citadel to protect them from their happy, 
contented servants — a citadel against their best friends /" 
I could not but be amused at the contradictions that occurred 
during this conversation. 

That emancipation has in several instances been effected 
with safety has been already shown. But allowing that 
there is some danger in discontinuing slavery, is there not 
likewise danger in continuing it? In one case, the danger, 
if there were any, would soon be subdued ; in the other, it 
is continually increasing. 

The planter tells us that the slave is very happy, and bids 
us leave him as he is. If laughter is a sign of happiness, 
the Irishman, tumbling in the same mire as his pigs, is happy. 
The merely sensual man is no doubt merry and heedless ; 
but who would call him happy? Is it not a fearful thing to 
keep immortal beings in a state like beasts? The more the 
senses are subjected to the moral and intellectual powers, 
the happier man is, — the more we learn to sacrifice the 
present to the future, the higher do we rise in the scale of 
existence. The negro may often enjoy himself, like the dog 
when he is not beaten, or the hog when he is not starved ; 
but let not this be called happiness. 

How far the slave laws are conducive to the enjoyment 
of those they govern, each individual can judge for himself. 
In the Southern papers, we continually see pictures of run- 
away negroes, and sometimes the advertisements identify 
them by scars, or by letters branded upon them. Is it nat- 
ural for men to run away from comfort and happiness, espe- 
cially when any one who meets them may shoot them, like 
a dog ! and when whipping nearly unto death is authorized 



AND ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 141 

as the punishment? I forbear to describe how much more 
shocking slave- whipping is than any thing we are accustomed 
to see bestowed upon cattle. 

But the advocates of slavery tell us, that on the negro's 
own account, it is best to keep him in slavery ; that without 
a master to guide him and take care of him, he is a wretched 
being ; that freedom is the greatest curse that can be bestowed 
upon him. Then why do their Legislatures grant it as a 
reward for " meritorious services to the State ?" Why do 
benevolent masters bequeath the legacy of freedom, " in 
consideration of long and faithful service ?" Why did Jef 
ferson so earnestly, and so very humbly request the Legisla- 
ture of Virginia to ratify the manumission of his five favorite 
slaves 1 

Notwithstanding the disadvantageous position of free ne 
groes in a community consisting of whites and slaves, it u 
evident that, even upon these terms, freedom is considered 
a blessing. 

The Anti-Slavery Society agree with Harriet Martineau 
in saying, " Patience with the men, but no patience with the 
principles. As much patience as you please in enlightening 
those who are unaware of the abuses, but no patience with 
social crimes !" 

The Colonization Society are always reminding us that 
the master has rights as well as the slave : The Anti-Slavery 
Society urge us to remember that the slave has righU as 
well as the master. I leave it for sober sense to determine 
which of these claims is in the greatest danger of being for- 
gotten. 

The abolitionists think it a duty to maintain at all times, 
and in all places, that slavery ought to be abolished, and 
that it can be abolished. When error is so often repeated 
it becomes very important to repeat the truth ; especially as 
good men are apt to be quiet, and selfish men are prone t'» 
be active. They propose no plan — they leave that to the 
wisdom of Legislatures. But they never swerve from the 
principle that slavery is both wicked and unnecessary.- — 
Their object is to turn the public voice against this evil, by 
a Dlain exposition of facts. 

Perhaps it may seem of little use for individuals to main- 
tain any particular principle, while they do not attempt to 
prescribe the ways and means by which it can be carried 
into operation : But the voice of the public is mighty, either 



142 COLONIZATION SOCIETY, 

for good or evil ; and that far-sounding echo is composed of 
single voices. 

Schiller makes his Fiesco exclaim, " Spread out the thunder 
into its single tones, and it becomes a lullaby for children ; 
pour it forth in one quick peal and the royal sound shall 
move the heavens!" 

If the work of abolition must necessarily be slow in its 
progress, so much the more need of beginning soon, and 
working vigorously. My life upon it, a safe remedy can be 
found for this evil, whenever we are sincerely desirous of 
doing justice for its own sake. 

The Anti-Slavery Society is loudly accused of being sedi- 
tious, fanatical, and likely to promote insurrections. It seems 
to be supposed, that they wish to send fire and sword into the 
South, and encourage the slaves to hunt down their masters. 
Slave-owners wish to have it viewed in this light, because 
thoy know the oubjoct will not bear discussion ; and men 
here, who give the tone to public opinion, have loudly re- 
peated the charge — some from good motives, and some from 
bad. I once had a very strong prejudice against anti-slavery ; 
— (I am ashamed to think how strong — for mere prejudice 
should never be stubborn,) but a candid examination has 
convinced me, that I was in an error. I made the common 
mistake of taking things for granted, without stopping to 
investigate. 

This Society do not wish to see any coercive or danger- 
ous measures pursued. They wish for universal emanci- 
pation, because they believe it is the only way to prevent 
insurrections. Almost every individual among them, is a 
strong friend to Peace Societies. They wish to move the 
public mind on this subject, in the same manner that it has 
been moved on other subjects : viz., by open, candid, fearless 
discussion. This is all they want to do; and this they are 
determined to do, because they believe it to bo an important 
duty. For a long time past, public sympathy has been ear- 
nestly directed in the wrong way; if it could be made to turn 
round, a most happy change would be produced. There are 
many people at the South who would be glad to have- a safe 
method of emancipation discovered ; but instead of encourag- 
ing them, all our presses, and pulpits, and books, and con- 
versation, haVe been used to strengthen the hands of those 
who wish to perpetuate the " costly iniquity." Divine Prov- 
idence always opens the way for the removal of evils, indi- 



AND ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 143 

vidual or national, whenever man is sincerely willing to have 
them removed ; it may be difficult to do right, but it is never 
impossible. Yet a majority of my countrymen do, in effect, 
hold the following language : " We know that this evil can- 
not be cured ; and we will speak and publish our opinion on 
every occasion : but you must not, for your lives, dare to 
assert that there is a possibility of our being mistaken." 

If there were any apparent wish to get rid of this sin and 
disgrace, I believe the members of the Anti-Slavery Society 
would most heartily and courageously defend slave-owners 
from any risk they might incur in a sincere effort to do right. 
They would teach the negro that it is the Christian's duty 
meekly and patiently to suffer wrong ; but they dare not 
excuse the white man for continuing to inflict the wrong. 

They think it unfair that all arguments on this subject 
should be founded on the convenience and safety of the 
master alone. They wish to see the white man's claims 
have their due weight ; but they insist that the negro's rights 
ought not to be thrown out of the balance. 

At the time a large reward was offered for the capture of 
Mr. Garrison, on the ground that his paper excited insur- 
rections, it is a fact, that he had never sent or caused to be 
sent, a single paper south of Mason and Dixon's line. He 
afterwards sent papers to some of the leading politicians 
there ; but they of course were not the ones to promote 
negro insurrections. "But," it has been answered, "the 
papers did find their way there." Are we then forbidden 
to publish our opinions upon an important subject, for fear 
somebody will send them somewhere? Is slavery to remain 
a sealed book in this most communicative of all ages, and 
this most inquisitive of all countries? If so, we live under 
an actual censorship of the press. This is like what the 
Irishman said of our paved cities — tying down the stones, 
and letting the mad dogs run loose. 

If insurrections do occur, they will no doubt be attributed 
to the Anti-Slavery Society. But we must not forget that 
there were insurrections in the West Indies long before the 
English abolitionists began their efforts ; and that masters 
were murdered in this country, before the Anti-Slavery So- 
ciety was thought of. Neither must we forget that the 
increased severity of the laws is very likely to goad an op- 
pressed people to madness. The very cruelty of the laws 
against resistance under any circumstances, would be thought 



144 COLONIZATION SOCIETY, 

to justify a white man in rebellion, because it gives resistance 
the character of self-defence. " The law," says Blackstone, 
" respects the passions of the human mind ; and when ex- 
ternal violence is ofFered to a man himself, or those to whom 
he bears a near connexion, makes it lawful in him to do 
himself that immediate justice, to which he is prompted by 
nature, and which no prudential motives are strong enough 
to restrain." 

As it respects promoting insurrections by discussing this 
subject, it should be remembered that it is very rare for any 
colored person at the South to know how to read or write. 

Furthermore, if there be any danger in the discussion, our 
silence cannot arrest it ; for the whole world is talking and 
writing about it. A good deal of commotion has been ex- 
cited in the South because some mustard has arrived there, 
packed in English newspapers, containing Parliamentary 
speeches against slavery ; — even children's handkerchiefs 
seem to be regarded as sparks falling into a powder maga- 
zine. How much better it would be not to live in the midst 
of a powder magazine. 

The English abolitionists have labored long and arduously. 
Every inch of the ground has been contested. After obtain- 
ing the decision that njgroes brought into England were 
freemen, it took them thirty-five years to obtain the abolition 
of the slave trade. But their progress, though slow and 
difficult, has been certain. The slaves are now emancipated 
in every British colony ; and in effecting this happy change, 
not one drop of blood has been spilt, nor any property de- 
stroyed, except two sheds, called trash houses, which were 
set on fire by some unknown hand. 

In Antigua and Bermuda, emancipation was unqualified; 
that is, the slaves at once received the stimulus of wages. 
In those Islands, there has not been the slightest difficulty. 
In the other colonies, the slaves were made apprentices, and 
obliged to work five years more, before they received their 
freedom, and magistrates decided what proportion of time 
should be employed for their own benefit. The planters had 
been so violent in opposition to abolition, and had prophesied 
such terrible disasters resulting from it, that they felt some 
anxiety to have their prophecies fulfilled. The abolition 
act, by some oversight, did not stipulate that while the ap- 
prentices worked without wages, they should have all the 
privileges to which they had been accustomed as slaves. 



AND ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 145 

It had been a universal practice for one slave to cook for 
all the rest, so that their food was ready the moment they 
left the field ; and aged female slaves tended the little chil- 
dren, while their mothers were at work. The planters 
changed this. Every slave was obliged to go to his cabin, 
whether distant or near, and cook his own dinner ; and the 
time thus lost must be made up to the masters from the hours 
set apart for the benefit of the apprentices. The aged slaves 
were likewise sent into the field to work, while mothers were 
obliged to toil with infants strapped at their backs. 

Under these circumstances, the apprentices very naturally 
refused to work. They said, " We are worse off than when 
we were slaves ; for they have taken away privileges to 
which we were accustomed in bondage, without paying us 
the wages of freemen." Still under all these provocations, 
they offered merely passive resistance. The worst enemies 
of the cause have not been able to discover that a single life 
has been lost in the West Indies, or a single plantation de- 
stroyed in consequence of emancipation ! It is a lamentable 
proof of the corrupt state of the American press, on the sub- 
ject of slavery, that the irritating conduct of the West Indian 
planters has been passed over in total silence, while every 
effort has been made to represent the passive resistance of 
the apprentices as some great Cl raw-head and bloody-bones 
story." 

While the good work was in progress in England, it was 
for a long time called by every odious name. It was even 
urged that the abolition of the slave trade would encourage 
the massacre of white men. Clarkson, who seems to have 
been been the meekest and most patient of men, was stig- 
matized as an insurrectionist. It was said he wanted to 
bring all the horrors of the French Revolution into England, 
merely because he wanted to abolish the slave trade. It 
was said Liverpool and Bristol would sink, never to rise 
again, if that traffic were destroyed. 

The insurrection at Barbadoes, in 1816, was ascribed to 
the influence of missionaries infected with the wicked phi- 
lanthropy of the age ; but it was discovered that there was 
no missionary on the island at the time of that event, nor 
for a long time previous to it. The insurrection at Deme- 
rara, several years after, was publicly and angrily ascribed 
to the Methodist missionaries ; they were taken up and im- 
f prisoned ; and it was lucky for these innocent men, that out 

13 



146 COLONIZATION SOCIETY, 

of their twelve hundred black converts, only twi had joined 
the rebellion. 

Ridicule and reproach has been abundantly heaped upon 
the laborers in this righteous cause. Power, wealth, talent, 
pride, and sophistry, are all in arms against them ; but God 
and truth is on their side. The cause of anti-slavery is rap- 
idly gaining ground. Wise heads as well as warm hearts, 
are joining in its support. In a few years I believe the 
opinion of New-England will be unanimous in its favor. 
Maine, which enjoys the enviable distinction of never hav- 
ing had a slave upon her soil, has formed an Anti-Slavery 
Society composed of her best and most distinguished men. 
Those who are determined to be on the popular side, should 
be cautious how they move just now : It is a trying time for 
such characters, when public opinion is on the verge of a 
great change. 

Men who think upon the subject, are fast coming to the 
conclusion that slavery can never be much ameliorated, 
while it is allowed to exist. What Mr. Fox said of the trade 
is Lrue of the system — " you may as well try to regulate mur- 
der." It is a disease as deadly as the cancer; and while 
one particle of it remains in the constitution, no cure can be 
effected. The relation is unnatural in itself, and therefor^ 
it reverses all the rules which are applied to other human 
relations. Thus a free government which in every other 
point of view is a blessing, is a curse to the slave. The lib- 
erty around him is contagious, and therefore the laws must 
be endowed with a tenfold crushing power, or the captive 
will break his chains. A despotic monarch can follow the 
impulses of humanity without scruple. When Vidius Pollio 
ordered one of his slaves to be cut to pieces and thrown 
into his fish-pond, the Emperor Augustus commanded him to 
emancipate immediately, not only that slave, but all his slaves. 
In a free State there is no such power ; and there would be 
none needed, if the laws were equal, — but the slave-owners 
are legislators, and make the laws, in which the negro has 
no voice — the master influences public opnion, but the slave 
cannot. 

Miss Martineau very wisely says ; " To attempt to com- 
bine freedom and slavery is to put new wine into old skins. 
Soon may the eld skins burst ? for we shall never want for 
better wine than they have ever held." 

A work has been lately published, written by Jonathan 



AND ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 147 

Dymond, who was a member of the Society of Friends, in 
England ; it is entitled " Essays on the Principles of Moral- 
ity" — and most excellent Essays they are. Every sentence 
recognises the principle of sacrificing all selfish considera- 
tions to our inward perceptions of duty ; and therefore every 
page shines with the mild but powerful light of true Chris- 
tian philosophy. I rejoice to hear that the book is likely to 
be republished in this country. In his remarks on slavery 
the author says : " The supporters of the system will here- 
after be regarded with the same public feelings, as he who 
was an advocate of the slave trade now is. How is it that 
legislators and public men are so indifferent to their fame 1 
Who would now be willing that biography should record of 
him, — This man defended the slave trade? The time will 
come when the record, — This man opposed the abolition of 
slavery, will occasion a great deduction from the public esti- 
mate of weight of character." 



148 INTELLECT OF NEGROES. 



CHAPTER VI. 



INTELLECT OF NEGROES. 



" We must not allow negroes to be men, lest we ourselves should be suspected 
of not being Christians." Montesquieu. 



In order to decide what is our duty concerning the Afri- 
cans and their descendan-ts, we must first clearly make up 
our minds whether they are, or are not, human beings — 
whether they -have, or have not, the same capacities for im- 
provement as other men. 

The intellectual inferiority of the negroes is a common, 
though most absurd apology, for personal prejudice, and the 
oppressive inequality of the laws ; for this reason, I shall 
take some pains to prove that the present degraded condition 
of that unfortunate race is produced by artificial causes, not 
by tne laws of nature. 

In the first place, naturalists are universally agreed con- 
cerning " the identity of the human type ;" by which they 
mean that all living creatures, that can, by any process, be 
enabled to perceive moral and intellectual truths, are charac- 
terized by similar peculiarities of organization. They may 
differ from each other widely, but they still belong to the 
same class. An eagle and a wren are very unlike each 
other ; but no one would hesitate to pronounce that they 
were both birds : so it is with the almost endless varieties of 
the monkey tribe. We all know that beasts, however saga- 
cious, are incapable of abstract thought, or moral perception. 
The most wonderful elephant in the world could not command 
an army, or govern a state. An ourang-outang may eat, 
and drink, and dress, and move like a man ; but he could 
never write an ode, or learn to relinquish his own good for 
the good of his species. The human conformation, however 
it may be altered by the operation of physical or moral 
causes, differs from that of all other beings, and on this 
ground, the negro's claim to be ranked as a man, is univer- 
sally allowed by the learned. 



INTELLECT OF NEGROES. 149 

The condition of this people in ancient times is very far 
from indicating intellectual or moral inferiority. Ethiopia 
held a conspicuous place among the nations. Her princes 
were wealthy and powerful, and her people distinguished for 
integrity and wisdom. Even the proud Grecians evinced 
respect for Ethiopia, almost amounting to reverence, and 
derived thence the sublimest portions of their mythology. 
The popular belief that all the gods made an annual visit to 
the Ethiopians, shows the high estimation in which they were 
held ; for we are not told that such an honor was bestowed 
on any other nation. In the first book of the Iliad, Achilles 
is represented as anxious to appeal at once to the highest 
authorities ; but his mother tells him : " Jupiter set off yes- 
terday, attended by all the gods, on a journey toward the 
ocean, to feast with the excellent Ethiopians, and is not ex- 
pected back at Olympus till the twelfth day." 

In Ethiopia, was likewise placed the table of the Sun, 
reported to kindle of its own accord, when exposed to the 
rays of that great luminary. 

In Africa was the early reign of Saturn, under the appel- 
lation of Ouranus, or Heaven ; there the impious Titans 
warred with the sky ; there Jupiter was born and nursed ; 
there was the celebrated shrine of Ammon, dedicated to 
Theban Jove, which the Greeks reverenced more highly 
than the Delphic Oracle ; there was the birth-place and 
oracle of Minerva ; and there, Atlas supported both the 
heavens and the earth upon his shoulders. 

It will be said that fables prove nothing. But there is 
probably much deeper meaning in these fables than we now 
understand ; there was surely some reason for giving them 
such a " local habitation." Why did the ancients represent 
Minerva as born in Africa, — and why are we told that Atlas 
there sustained the heavens and the earth, unless they meant 
to imply that Africa was the centre, from which religious and 
scientific light had been diffused ? 

Some ancient writers suppose that Egypt derived all the 
arts and sciences from Ethiopia ; while others believe pre- 
cisely the reverse. Diodorus supported the first opinion, — 
and asserts that the Ethiopian vulgar spoke the same lan- 
guage as the learned of Egypt. 

It is well known that Egypt was the great school of 
knowledge in the ancient world. It was the birth-place of 
Astronomy ; and we still mark the constellations as they 

13* 



150 INTELLECT OF NEGROES. 

were arranged by Egyptian shepherds. The wisest of the 
Grecian philosophers, among whom were Solon, Pythagoras 
and Plato, went there for instruction, as our young men now 
go to England and Germany. The Eleusinian mysteries 
were introduced from Egypt ; and the important secret which 
they taught, is supposed to have been the existence of one, 
invisible God. A large portion of Grecian mythology was 
thence derived ; but in passing from one country to the other, 
the form of these poetical fables was often preserved, while 
the original meaning was lost. 

Herodotus, the earliest of the Greek historians, informs us 
that the Egyptians were negroes. This fact has been much 
doubted, and often contradicted. But Herodotus certainly 
had the best means of knowing the truth on this subject ; for 
he travelled in Egypt, and obtained his knowledge of the 
country by personal observation. He declares that the Col- 
chians must be a colony of Egyptians, because, " like them, 
they have a black skin and frizzled hair." 

The statues of the Sphinx have the usual characteristics' 
of the negro race. This opinion is confirmed by Blumen- 
bach, the celebrated German naturalist, and by Volney, 
who carefully examined the architecture of Egypt. 

Concerning the sublimity of the architecture in this an- 
cient negro kingdom, some idea may be conceived from the 
description of Thebes given by Denon, who accompanied 
the French army into Egypt : " This city, renowned for 
numerous kings, who through their wisdom have been ele- 
vated to the rank of gods ; for laws, which have been re- 
vered without being known ; for sciences, which have been 
confided to proud and mysterious inscriptions ; for wise and 
earliest monuments of the arts, which time has respected ; 
— this sanctuary, abandoned, isolated through barbarism, 
and surrendered to the desert from which it was won ; this 
city, shrouded in the veil of mystery by which even colossi 
are magnified ; this remote city, which imagination has only 
caught a glimpse of through the darkness of time — was still 
so gigantic an apparition, that, at the sight of its scattered 
ruins, the army halted of its own accord, and the soldiers, 
with one spontaneous movement, clapped their hands." 

The honorable Alexander Everett, in his work on Amer- 
ica, says: "While Greece and Rome were yet barbarous, 
we find the light of learning and improvement emanating 
from the continent of Africa, (supposed to be so degraded 



INTELLECT OF NEGROES. 151 

and accursed,) out of the midst of this very woolly-haired, 
flat-nosed, thick-lipped, coal-black race, which some persons 
are tempted to station at a pretty low intermediate point be- 
tween men and monkeys, It is to Egypt, if to any nation, 
that we must look as the real antiqua mater of the ancient 
and modern refinement of Europe. The great lawgiver of 
the Jews was prepared for his divine mission by a course of 
instruction' in all the wisdom of the Egyptians." 

" The great Assyrian empires of Babylon and Nineveh, 
hardly less illustrious than Egypt in arts and arms, were 
founded by Ethiopian colonies, and peopled by blacks. 

" Palestine, or Canaan, before its conquest by the Jews, is 
represented in Scripture, as well as in other histories, as 
peopled by blacks; and hence it follows that Tyre and Car- 
thage, the most industrious, wealthy, and polished states of 
their time, were of this color." 

Another strong argument against the natural inferiority of 
negroes may be drawn from the present condition of Africa. 
Major Denham's account of the Sultan of Sackatoo proves 
that the brain is not necessarily rendered stupid by the color 
of the face : " The palace as usual in Africa, consisted of a 
sort of inclosed town, with an open quadrangle in front. 
On entering the gate, he was conducted through three huts 
serving as guard-houses, after which he found Sultan Bello 
seated on a small carpet in a sort of painted and ornamented 
cottage. Bello had a noble and commanding figure, with a 
high forehead and large black eyes. He gave the traveller 
a hearty welcome, and after inquiring the particulars of his 
journey, proceeded to serious affairs. He produced books 
belonging to Major Denham, which had been taken in the 
disastrous battle of Dirkullah ; and though he expressed a 
feeling of dissatisfaction at the Major's presence on that occa- 
sion, readily accepted an apology, and restored the volumes. 
He only asked to have the subject of each explained, and 
to hear the sound of the language, which he declared to be 
beautiful. He then began to press his visiter with theologi- 
cal questions, and showed himself not wholly unacquainted 
with the controversies which have agitated the christian 
world ; indeed, he soon went beyond the depth of his visiter, 
who was obliged to own he was not versant in the abstruser 
mysteries of divinity. 

" The Sultan now opened a frequent and familiar commu- 
nication with the English envov. in which he showed himself 



152 INTELLECT OF NEGROES. 

possessed of a good deal of information. The astronomical 
instruments, from which, as from implements of magic, many 
of his attendants started with horror, were examined by the 
monarch with an intelligent eye. On being shown the plani- 
sphere, he proved his knowledge of the planets and many 
of the constellations, by repeating their Arabic names. The 
telescope, which presented objects inverted, — the compass, 
by which he could always turn to the East when praying, 
— and the sextant, which he called ' the looking-glass of the 
sun,' excited peculiar interest. He inquired with evident 
jealousy, into some parts of English history ; particularly 
the conquest of India and the attack upon Algiers." 

The same traveller describes the capital of Loggun, be- 
neath whose high walls the river flowed in majestic beauty. 
" It was a handsome city, with a street as wide as Pall Mall, 
bordered by large dwellings, having spacious areas in front. 
Manufacturing industry was honored. The cloths woven 
here were superior to those of Bornou, being finely dyed 
with indigo, and beautifully glazed. There was even a cur- 
rent coin, made of iron, somewhat in the form of a horse- 
shoe ; and rude as this was, none of their neighbors possessed 
any thing similar. The women were handsome, intelligent 
and lively." 

All travellers in Africa agree, that the inhabitants, par- 
ticularly of the interior, have a good deal of mechanical 
skill. They tan and dye leather, sometimes thinning it in 
such a manner that it is as flexible as paper. In Ploussa, 
leather is dressed in the same soft, rich style as in Morocco; 
they manufacture cordage, handsome cloths, and fine tissue. 
Though ignorant of the turning machine, they make good 
pottery ware, and some of their jars are really tasteful. 
They prepare indigo, and extract ore from minerals. They 
make agricultural tools, and work skilfully in gold, silver 
and steel. Dickson, who knew jewellers and watchmakers 
among them, speaks of a very ingenious wooden-clock made 
by a negro. Hornemann says the inhabitants of Haissa give 
their cutting instruments a keener edge than European art- 
ists, and their files are superior to those of France or Eng- 
land. Gol berry assures us that some of the African stuffs 
are extremely fine and beautiful. 

Mungo Park says " The industry of the Foulahs, in pas- 
turage and agriculture, is everywhere remarkable. Their 
herds and flocks are nume^us, and they are opulent in a 



INTELLECT OF NEGROES. 153 

high degree. They enjoy all the necessaries of lift in the 
greatest profusion. They display much skill in the manage- 
ment of their cattle, making them extremely gentle by kind- 
ness and familiarity." The same writer remarks that the 
negroes love instruction, and that they have advocates to 
defend the slaves brought before their tribunals. 

Speaking of Wasiboo, he says : " Cultivation is carried on 
here on a very extensive scale ; and, as the natives them- 
selves express it, ' hunger is never known.' " 

On Mr. Park's arrival at one of the Sego ferries for the 
purpose of crossing the Niger to see the king, he says : 
" We found a great number waiting for a passage ; they 
looked at me with silent wonder. The view of this exten- 
sive city ; the numerous canoes upon the river ; the crowded 
population, and the cultivated state of the surrounding coun- 
try, formed altogether a prospect of civilization and mag- 
nificence, which I little expected to find in the bosom of 
Africa." 

" The public discussions in Africa, called palavers, exhibit 
a fluent and natural oratory, often accompanied with much 
good sense and shrewdness. Above all, the passion for poe- 
try is nearly universal. As soon as the evening breeze be- 
gins to blow, the song resounds throughout all Africa, — it 
cheers the despondency of the wanderer through the desert 
• — it enlivens the social meetings — it inspires the dance, — 
and even the lamentations of the mourners are poured forth 
in measured accents. 

" In these extemporary and spontaneous effusions, the 
speaker gives utterance to his hopes and fears, his joys and 
sorrows. All the sovereigns are attended by singing men 
and women, who like the European minstrels and trouba* 
dours celebrate interesting events in verse, which they re- 
peat before the public. Like all, whose business it is to 
rehearse the virtues of monarchs, they are, of course, too 
much given to flattery. The effusions of the African muse 
are inspired by nature and animated by national enthusiasm. 
From the few specimens given, they seem not unlikely to 
reward the care of a collector. How few among our peas- 
antry could have produced the pathetic lamentation uttered 
in the little Bambarra cottage over the distresses of Mungo 
Park ! These songs, handed down from father to son, evi- 
dently contain all that exists among the African nations ot 
traditional history. From the songs of the Jillimen, or min 



154 INTELLECT OF NEGROES. 

strels, of Soolimani, Major Laing was enabled to compile the 
annals of that small kingdom for more than a century."* 

In addition to the arguments drawn from the ancient con- 
ditions of Africa, and the present character of people in the 
interior of that country, there are numerous individual ex- 
amples of spirit, courage, talent, and magnanimity. 

History furnishes very few instances of bravery, intelli- 
gence, and perseverance, equal to the famous Zhinga, the 
negro queen of Angola, born in 1582. Like other despotic 
princes, her character is stained with numerous acts of fero- 
city and crime ; but her great abilities cannot be for a mo- 
ment doubted. 

During her brother's reign, Zhinga was sent as ambassa- 
dress to Loanda, to negotiate terms of peace with the Por- 
tuguese. A palace was prepared for her reception ; and 
she was received with the honors due to her rank. On en- 
tering the audience-chamber, she perceived that a magnifi- 
cent chair of state was prepared for the Portuguese Viceroy, 
while in front of it, a rich carpet, and velvet cushions, em- 
broidered with gold, were arranged on the floor for her use. 
The haughty princess observed this in silent displeasure. 
She gave a signal with her eyes, and immediately one of 
her women knelt on the carpet, supporting her weight on her 
hands. Zhinga gravely seated herself upon her back, and 
awaited the entrance of the Viceroy. The spirit and dignity 
with which she fulfilled her mission excited the admiration 
of the whole court. When an alliance was offered, upon 
the condition of annual tribute to the king of Portugal, she 
proudly answered : " Such proposals are for a people sub- 
dued by force of arms ; they are unworthy of a powerful 
monarch, who voluntarily seeks the friendship of the Portu- 
guese, and who scorns to be their vassal." 

She finally concluded a treaty, upon the single condition 
of restoring all the Portuguese prisoners. When the audi- 
ence was ended, the Viceroy, as he conducted her from the 
room, remarked that the attendant upon whose back she 
had been seated, still remained in the same posture. Zhinga 
replied : " It is not fit that the ambassadress of a great king 
should be twice served with the same seat. I have no further 
use for the woman." 

Charmed with the politeness of the Europeans, and the 

* English Family Library, No. XVI. 



INTELLECT OF NEGROES. 155 

evolutions of their troops, the African princess long delayed 
her departure. Having received instruction in the christian 
religion, she professed a deep conviction of its truth. Whether 
this was sincere, or merely assumed from political motives, 
is uncertain. During her visit, she received baptism, being 
then forty years old. She returned to Angola loaded with 
presents and honors. Her brother, notwithstanding a solemn 
promise to preserve the treaty she had formed, soon made 
war upon the Portuguese. He was defeated, and soon after 
died of poison ; some said his death was contrived by Zhinga. 
She ascended the throne, and having artfully obtained pos- 
session of her nephew's person, she strangled him with her 
own hands. Revenge, as well as ambition, impelled her to 
this crime ; for her brother had, many years before, mur- 
dered her son, lest he should claim the crown. 

The Portuguese increased so fast in numbers, wealth, and 
power, that the people of Angola became jealous of them, 
and earnestly desired war. Zhinga, having formed an alli- 
ance with the Dutch, and with several neighboring chiefs, 
began the contest with great vigor. She obtained several 
victories, at first, but was finally driven from her kingdom 
with great loss. Her conquerors offered to re-establish her 
on the throne, if she would consent to pay tribute. She 
haughtily replied, " If my cowardly subjects are willing to 
bear shameful fetters, J cannot endure even the thought of 
dependence upon any foreign power." 

In order to subdue her stubborn spirit, the Portuguese placed 
a king of their own choosing upon the throne of Angola. 
This exasperated Zhinga to such a degree, that she vowed 
everlasting hatred against her enemies, and publicly abjured 
their religion. At the head of an intrepid and ferocious band, 
she, during eighteen years, perpetually harassed the Por- 
tuguese. She could neither be subdued by force of arms t 
nor appeased by presents. She demanded complete resti- 
tution of her territories, and treated every other proposal 
with the utmost scorn. Once, when closely besieged in an 
island, she asked a short time to reflect on the terms of sur- 
render. The request being granted, she silently guided her 
troops through the river at midnight, and carried fire and 
sword into another portion of the enemy's country. 

The total defeat of the Hollanders, and the death of her 
sister, who had been taken captive during the wars, softened 
her spiri She became filled with remorse for having re- 



156 INTELLECT OF NEGROES. 

nounced the christian religion. She treated her prisoners 
more mercifully, and gave orders that the captive priests 
should be attended with the utmost reverence. They per- 
ceived the change, and lost no opportunity of regaining their 
convert. The queen was ready to comply with their wishes, 
but feared a revolt among her subjects and allies, who were 
strongly attached to the customs of their fathers. The 
priests, by numerous artifices, worked so powerfully upon 
the superstitious fears of the people, that they were prepared 
to hail Zhinga's return to the Catholic faith with joy. 

The queen, thus reconciled to the church, signed a treaty 
of peace ; took the Capuchins for her counsellors ; dedicated 
her capital city to the Virgin, under the name of Saint Mary 
of Matamba ; and erected a large church. Idolatry was 
forbidden, under the most rigorous penalties ; and not a few 
fell martyrs to Zhinga's fiery zeal. 

A law prohibiting polygamy excited discontent. Zhinga, 
though seventy-five years old, publicly patronized marriage, 
by espousing one of her courtiers ; and her sister was in- 
duced to give the same example. The Portuguese again 
tried to make her a vassal to the crown ; but the priests, 
notwithstanding their almost unlimited influence, could never 
obtain her consent to this degradation. 

In 1657, one of her tributaries having violated the treaty 
of peace, she marched at the head of her troops, defeated 
the rebel, and sent his head to the Portuguese. 

In 1658, she made war upon a neighboring king, who 
had attacked her territories ; and returned in triumph, after 
having compelled him to submit to such conditions as she saw 
fit to impose. The same year, she abolished the cruel cus- 
tom of immolating human victims on the tombs of princes ; 
and founded a new city, ornamented with a beautiful church 
and palace. 

She soon after sent an embassage to the Pope, requesting 
more missionaries among her people. The Pontiff's answer 
was publicly read in the church, where Zhinga appeared 
with a numerous and brilliant train. At a festival in honor 
of this occasion she and the ladies of her court performed a 
mimic battle, in the dress and armor of Amazons. Though 
more than eighty years old, this remarkable woman displayed 
as much strength, agility, and skill, as she could have done at 
twenty-five. She died in 1663, aged eighty-two. Arrayed in 
royal robes, ornamented with precious stones, with a bow and 



INTELLECT OF NEGROES. 157 

arrow in her hand, the body was shown to her sorrowing 
subjects. It was then, according to her wish, clothed in 
the Capuchin habit, with crucifix and rosary.* 

The commandant of a Portuguese fort, who expected the 
arrival of an African envc^y, ordered splendid preparations, 
that he might be dazzled with the idea of European wealth. 
When the negro entered the richly-ornamented saloon, he 
was not invited to sit down. Like Zhinga, he made a signal 
to an attendant, who knelt upon the floor, and thus furnished 
him a seat. The commandant asked, " Is thy king as pow- 
erful as the King of Portugal ?" The colored envoy replied : 
" My king has a hundred servants like the king of Portugal; 
a thousand like thee ; and but one like myself." As he said 
this, he indignantly left the room. 

Michaud, the elder, says that in different places on the 
Persian Gulf, he has seen negroes as heads of great com- 
mercial houses, receiving orders and expediting vessels to 
various parts of India. Their intelligence in business is well 
known on the Levant. 

The Czar Peter of Russia, during his travels became ac- 
quainted with Annibal, an African negro, who was intelligent 
and well educated. Peter the Great, true to his generous 
system of rewarding merit wherever he found it, made An- 
nibal Lieutenant-General and Director of the Russian Artil- 
lery. Pie was decorated with the riband of the order of St. 
Alexander Nenski. His son, a mulatto, was Lieutenant- 
General of Artillery, and said to be a man of talent. St. 
Pierre and La Harpe were acquainted with him. 

Job Ben Solomon, was the son of the Mohammedan king 
of Bunda, on the Gambia. He was taken in 1730, and sold 
in Maryland. By a train of singular adventures he was 
conveyed to England, where his intelligence and dignified 
manners gained him many friends ; among whom was Sir 
Hans Sloane, for whom he translated several Arabic manu- 
scripts. After being received with distinction at the Court 
of St. James, the African Company became interested in his 
fate, and carried him back to Bunda, in the year 1734 
His uncle embracing him, said, "During sixty years, you 
are the first slave I have ever seen return from the Ameri- 
can isles." At his father's death, Solomon became king, and 
was much beloved in his states. 

* See Biographie Universelle. 
14 



158 INTELLECT OF NEGROES. 

The son of the King of Congo, and several of the young 
people of rank were sent to the Portuguese universities, in 
the time of King Immanuel. Some of them were distin- 
guished scholars, and several of them promoted to the priest- 
hood. 

In 1765, a negro in England was ordained by Doctor 
Keppell, bishop of Exeter. In Prevot's General History of 
Voyages, there is an account of a black bishop who studied 
at Rome. 

Antonio Perrura Reboucas, who is at the present time 
Deputy from Bahia, in the Cortes of Brazil, is a distinguished 
lawyer, and a good man. He is learned in political economy 
and has written ably upon the currency of Brazil. I have 
heard intelligent white men from that country speak of him 
in terms of high respect and admiration. 

Henry Diaz, who is extolled in all the histories of Brazil, 
was a negro and slave. He became Colonel of a regiment 
of foot-soldiers, of his own color; and such was his reputa- 
tion for sagacity and valor, that it was considered a distinc- 
tion to be under his command. In the contest between the 
Portuguese and Hollanders, in 1637, Henry Diaz fought 
bravely against the latter. He compelled them to capitulate 
at Arecise, and to surrender Fernanbon. In a battle, strug- 
gling against the superiority of numbers, and perceiving that 
some of his soldiers began to give way, he rushed into the 
midst of them, exclaiming, " Are these the brave companions 
of Henry Diaz !" His example renewed their courage, and 
they returned so impetuously to the charge, that the almost 
victorious army were compelled to retreat hastily. 

Having wounded his left-hand in battle, he caused it to be 
struck off, rather than to lose the time necessary to dress it. 
This regiment, composed of blacks, long existed in Brazil 
under the popular name of Henry Diaz. 

Antony William Amo, born in Guinea, was brought to Eu- 
rope when very young. The Princess of Brunswick, Wolf- 
enbuttel, defrayed the expenses of his education. He pursued 
his studies at Halle and at Wittenberg, and so distinguished 
himself by his character and abilities, that the Rector and 
Council of Wittenberg thought proper to give public testi- 
mony of their respect in a letter of congratulation. In this 
letter they remark that Terence also was an African — that 
many martyrs, doctors, and fathers of the church were born 
in the same country, where learning once flourished, and 



INTELLECT OF NEGROES. 159 

which by losing the christian faith, again fell back into bar 
barism. Amo delivered private lectures on philosophy, 
which are highly praised in the same letter. He became a 
doctor. 

Lislet Geoffrroy, a mulatto, was an officer of Artillery and 
guardian of the Depot of Maps and Plans of the Isle of France. 
He was a correspondent of the French Academy of Sciences, 
to whom he regularly transmitted meteorological observa- 
tions, and sometimes hydrographical journals. His map of 
the Isles of France and Reunion is considered the best map 
of those islands that has appeared. In the archives of the 
Institute of Paris is an account of Lislet's voyage to the Bay 
of St. Luce. He points out the exchangeable commodities 
and other resources which it presents ; and urges the impor- 
tance of encouraging industry by the hope of advantageous 
commerce, instead of exciting the natives to war in order to 
obtain slaves. Lislet established a scientific society at the 
Isle of France, to which some white men refused to belong, 
because its founder had a skin more deeply colored than 
their own. 

James Derham, originally a slave at Philadelphia, was sold 
to a physician, who employed him in compounding drugs ; 
he wa afterward sold to a surgeon, and finally to Doctor 
Robert Dove, of New-Orleans. In 1788, at the age of twen- 
ty-one, he became the most distinguished physician in that 
city, and was able to talk with French, Spanish, and English, 
in their own languages. Doctor Rush says, " I conversed 
with him on medicine, and found him very learned. I thought 
I could give him information concerning the treatment of dis- 
eases ; but I learned from him more than he could expect 
from me." 

Thomas Fuller, an African residing in Virginia, did not 
know how to read or write, but had great facility in arithmet- 
ical calculations. He was once asked, how many seconds has 
an individual lived when he is seventy years, seven months, 
and seven days old ? In a minute and a half he answered the 
question. One of the company took a pen, and after a long 
calculation, said Fuller had made the sum too large. " No," 
replied the negro, " the error is on your side. You did not 
calculate the leap years." These facts are mentioned in a 
letter from Doctor Rush, published in the fifth volume of the 
American Museum. 

In 1788, Othello, a negro, published at Baltimore an Essay 



160 INTELLECT OF NEGROES. 

against Slavery. Addressing white men, he says, " Is not 
your conduct, compared with your principles, a sacrilegious 
irony ? When you dare to talk of civilization and the gospel, 
you pronounce your own anathema. In you the superiority 
of power produces nothing but a superiority of brutality and 
barbarism. Your fine political systems are sullied by the 
outrages committed against human nature and the divine 
majesty." 

Olandad Equiano, better known by the name of Gustavus 
Vasa, was stolen in Africa, at twelve years old, together with 
his sister. They were torn from each other ; and the brother, 
after a horrible passage in a slave-ship, was sold at Barba- 
does. Being purchased by a lieutenant, he accompanied his 
new master to England, Guernsey, and the siege of Louis- 
bourg. He afterwards experienced great changes of fortune, 
and made voyages to various parts of Europe and America. 
In all his wanderings, he cherished an earnest desire for free- 
dom. He hoped to obtain his liberty by faithfulness and zeal 
in his master's service ; but finding avarice stronger than 
benevolence, he began trade with a capital of three pence, 
and by rigid economy was at last able to purchase — his own 
body and soul ; this, however, was not effected, unti 1 he had 
endured much oppression and insult. He was seveiai times 
shipwrecked, and finally, after thirty years of vicissitude and 
suffering, he settled in London and published his Memoirs. 
The book is said to be written with all the simplicity, and 
something of the roughness, of uneducated nature. He gives 
a naive description of his terror at an earthquake, his surprise 
when he first saw snow, a picture, a watch, and a quadrant. 

He always had an earnest desire to understand navigation, 
as a probable means of one day escaping from slavery. 
Having persuaded a sea-captain to give him lessons, he ap- 
plied himself with great diligence, though obliged to contend 
with many obstacles, and subject to frequent interruptions. 
Doctor Irving, with whom he once lived as a servant, taught 
him to render salt water fresh by distillation. Some time 
after, when engaged in a northern expedition, he made good 
use of this knowledge, and furnished the crew with water 
they could drink. 

His sympathies were, very naturally, given to the weak 
and the despised, wherever he found them. He deplores the 
fate of modern Greeks, nearly as much degraded by the 
Turks as the negroes are by their white brethren. In 1789, 



INTELLECT OF NEGROES. 161 

Vasa presented a petition to the British parliament, for the 
suppression of the slave-trade. His son, named Sancho, was 
assistant librarian to Sir Joseph Banks, and Secretary to the 
Committee for Vaccination. 

Another negro, named Ignatius Sancho, was born on board 
a Guinea ship, where his parents were both captives, destined 
for the South American slave market. Change of climate 
killed his mother, and his father committed suicide. At two 
years old the orphan was carried to England, and presented 
to some ladies residing at Greenwich. Something in his 
character reminded them of Don Quixote's squire, and they 
added Sancho to his original name of Ignatius. The Duke 
of Montague saw him frequently and thought he had a mind 
worthy of cultivation. He often sent him books, and advised 
the ladies to give him a chance for education ; but they had 
less liberal views, and often threatened to send the poor boy 
again into slavery. After the death of his friends, he went 
into the service of the Duchess of Montague, who at her 
death left him an annuity of thirty pounds ; beside which he 
had saved seventy pounds out of his earnings. 

Something of dissipation mixed with his love of reading, 
and sullied the better part of his character. He spent his 
last shilling at Drury Lane, to see Garrick, who was ex- 
tremely friendly to him. At one time he thought of perform- 
ing African characters on the stage, but was prevented by 
a bad articulation. 

He afterward became very regular in his habits, and mar- 
ried a worthy West Indian girl. After his death, two vol- 
umes of his letters were printed, of which a second edition 
was soon published, with a portrait of the author, designed 
by Gainsborough, and engraved by Bartolozzi. 

Sterne formed an acquaintance with Ignatius Sancho ; and 
in the third volume of his letters, there is an epistle addressed 
to this African, in which he tells him that varieties in nature 
do not sunder the bands of brotherhood ; and expresses his 
indignation that certain men wish to class their equals among 
the brutes, in order to treat them as such with impunity. 
Jefferson criticises Sancho with some severity, for yielding 
too much to an eccentric imagination ; but he acknowledges 
that he has an easy style, and a happy choice of expres- 
sions. 

The letters of Sancho are thought to bear some resem- 
blance to those of Sterne, both in their beauties and defects. 

14* 



162 INTELLECT OF NEGROES. 

Francis Williams, a negro, was born in Jamaica. The 
Duke of Montaigne, governor of the island, thinking him an 
unusually bright boy, sent him to England to school. He 
afterward entered the University of Cambridge, and became 
quite a proficient in mathematics. During his stay in. Eu- 
rope, he published a song which became quite popular, be- 
ginning, " Welcome, welcome, brother debtor." After his 
return to Jamaica, the Duke tried to obtain £ place for him 
in the council of the government, but did not succeed. He 
then became a teacher of Latin and mathematics. He wrote 
a good deal of Latin verse, a species of composition of which 
he was very fond. This negro is described as having been 
pedantic and haughty ; indulging a profound contempt for 
men of his own color. Where learning is a rare attainment 
among any people, or any class of people, this effect is very 
apt to be produced. 

Phillis Wheatly, stolen from Africa when seven or eight 
years old, was sold to a wealthy merchant in Boston, in 1761. 
Being an intelligent and winning child, she gained upon the 
affections of her master's family, and they allowed her un- 
common advantages. When she was nineteen years old, a 
little volume of her poems was published, and passed through 
several editions, both in England and the United States. Lest 
the authenticity of the poems should be doubted, her master, 
the governor, the lieutenant-governor, and fifteen other re- 
spectable persons, acquainted with her character and circum- 
stances, testified that they were really her own productions. 
Jefferson denies that these poems have any merit ; but I think 
he would have judged differently, had he been perfectly un- 
prejudiced. It would indeed be absurd to put Phillis Wheatly 
in competition with Mrs. Hemans, Mary Hewitt, Mrs. Sig- 
ourney, Miss Gould, and other modern waiters ; but her pro- 
ductions certainly appear very respectable in comparison 
with most of the poetry of that day. 

Phillis Wheatly received her freedom in 1775 ; and two 
years after married a colored man, who, like herself, was con- 
sidered a prodigy. He was at first a grocer ; but afterward 
became a lawyer, well known by the name of Doctor Peter. 
He was in the habit of pleading causes for his brethren be- 
fora the tribunals of justice, and gained both reputation and 
fortune by his practice. Phillis had been flattered and in- 
dulged from her earliest childhood ; and, like many literary 
women in old times, she acquired something of contempt for 



INTELLECT OF NEGROES. 163 

domestic occupations. This is said to have produced unhap- 
piness between her and her husband. She died in 1780. 

Mr. Wilberforce, (on whom may the blessing of God rest 
for ever !) aided by several benevolent individuals, established 
a seminary for colored people at Clapham, a few leagues from 
London. The first scholars were twenty-one young negroes, 
sent by the Governor of Sierra Leone. The Abbe Gregoire 
says, " I visited this establishment in 1802, to examine the 
progress of the scholars ; and I found there existed no differ- 
ence between them and European children, except that of 
color. The same observation has been made, first at Paris, 
in the ancient college of La Marche, where Coesnon, pro- 
fessor of the University, taught a number of colored boys. 
Many members of the National Institute, who have carefully 
examined this college, and watched the progress of the schol- 
ars in their particular classes, and public exercises, will testify 
to the truth of my assertion." 

Correa de Serra, the learned Secretary of the Academy 
at Portugal, informs us that several negroes have been able 
lawyers, preachers, and professors. 

In the Southern States, the small black children are pro- 
verbially brighter and more forward than white ones of the 
same age. Repartees, by no means indicative of stupidity, 
have sometimes been made by negroes. A slave was sud- 
denly roused with the exclamation, " Why don't you wake, 
when your master calls !" The negro answered, " Sleep has 
no master." 

On a public day the New-England Museum, in Boston, was 
thronged with visiters to see the representation of the Salem 
murder. Some colored women being jostled back by a crowd 
cf white people, expostulated thus : " Don't you know it is 
always proper to let the mourners walk first ?" It argues 
some degree of philosophy to be able to indulge wit at the 
expense of what is, most unjustly, considered a degradation. 
Public prejudice shamefully fetters these people ; and it has 
been wisely said, " If we cannot break our chains, the next 
best thing we can do, is to play with them."* 

Among Bonaparte's officers there was a mulatto General 
of Division, named Alexander Dumas. In the army of the 
Alps, with charged bayonet, he ascended St. Bernard, de- 

* In a beautiful little volume called Mary's Journey, by Francis 
Graeter. 



164 INTELLECT OF NEGROES. 

fended by a number of redoubts, took possession of the ene- 
my's cannon, and turned their own ammunition against them. 
He likewise signalized himself in the expedition to Egypt. 
His troop, composed of blacks and mulattoes, were every- 
where formidable. Near Lisle, Alexander Dumas, with only 
four men, attacked a post of fifty Austrians, killed six, and 
made sixteen prisoners. Napoleon called him the Horatius 
Codes of the Tyrols. 

On his return from Egypt, Dumas unluckily fell into the 
hands of the Neapolitan government, and was two years 
kept in irons. He died in 1807. 

Between 1620 and 1630, some fugitive negroes, united 
with some Brazilians, formed two free states in South Amer- 
ica, called the Great and Little Palmares; so named on ac- 
count of the abundance of palm trees. The Great Palmares 
was nearly destroyed by the Hollanders, in 1644 ; but at 
the close of the war, the slaves in the neighborhood of Fer- 
nanbouc, resolved to form an establishment, which would 
secure their freedom. Like the old Romans, they obtained 
wives by making incursions upon their neighbors, and carry- 
ing off the women. 

They formed a constitution, established tribunals of jus- 
tice, and adopted a form of worship similar to Christianity. 
The chiefs chosen for life were elected by the people. 

They fortified their principal towns, cultivated their gar- 
dens and fields, and reared domestic animals. They lived 
in prosperity and peace, until 1696, when the Portuguese 
prepared an expedition against them. The Palmarisians de- 
fended themselves with desperate valor, but were overcome 
by superior numbers. Some rushed upon death, that they 
might not survive their liberty ; others were sold and dis- 
persed by the conquerors. Thus ended this interesting re- 
public. Had it continued to the present time, it might have 
produced a very material change in the character and con- 
dition of the colored race. 

In the seventeenth century, when Jamaica was still under 
the dominion of the Spaniards, a party of slaves under the 
command of John de Bolas, regained their independence. 
They increased in numbers, elected the famous Cudjoe as 
their chief, and became very formidable. Cudjoe established 
a confederation among all the Maroon tribes, and by his 
bravery and skilful management compelled the English to 
make a treatv. in which thev acknowledged the freedom of 



INTELLECT OF NEGROES. 165 

the blacks, and ceded to them for ever a portion of the terri- 
tory of Jamaica. 

The French National Assembly admitted free colored 
deputies from St. Domingo, and promised a perfect equality 
of rights, without regard to complexion. But, as usual, the 
white colonists made every possible exertion to set aside the 
claims of their darker-faced brethren. It was very short- 
sighted policy ; for the planters absolutely needed the friend- 
ship of the free mulattoes and negroes, as a defence against 
the slaves. Oge, one of the colored deputies, an energetic 
and shrewd man, was in Paris, watching political movements 
with intense interest, — resolved to maintain the rights of his 
oppressed companions, " quietly if he could — forcibly if he 
must." Day after day, a hearing was promised; and day 
after day, upon some idle pretext or other, it was deferred. 
Oge became exasperated. His friends in France recom- 
mended the only medicine ever offered by the white man to 
the heart-sick African,— patience — patience. But he had 
long observed the operation of slavery, and he knew that 
patience, whatever it might do for the white man, brought 
upon the negro nothing but contempt and accumulated wrong. 
Discouraged in his efforts to make head against the intrigues 
of the slaveholders, he could not contain his indignation : 
" I begin," said he to Clarkson, " not to care whether the 
National Assembly will hear us or not. But let it beware 
of the consequences. We will no longer continue to be held 
in a degraded light. Despatches shall go directly to St. Do- 
mingo ; and we will soon follow them. We can produce as 
good soldiers on our own estates, as those in France. Our 
own arms shall make us independent and respectable. If 
we are forced to desperate measures, it will be in vain that 
thousands are sent across the Atlantic to bring us back to 
our former state." 

The French government issued orders to prevent the 
embarkation of negroes and mulattoes ; but Oge, by the 
way of England, contrived to return to St. Domingo. On 
his arrival, he demanded the execution of decrees made in 
favor of his brethren, but either resisted or evaded by their 
white oppressors. His plea, founded in justice, and sanc- 
tioned by Divine authority, was rejected. The parties be- 
came exasperatedj and an attack ensued. The Spanish 
government basely and wickedly delivered Oge to his ene 
mies. He asked for a defender to plead his cause ; but he 



166 .rELLECT OF NEGK 

asked in vain. Thirteen of his companions were condemned 
to the galleys ; more than twenty to the gibbet ; and Oge 
and Chavanne were tortured on the wheel. 

Where rests the guilt in this case? Let those blame Oge, 
who can. My heart and co«science both refuse to do it. 

Toussalnt ISOuverture, the celebrated black chieftain, was 
born a slave, in the year 1745, upon the plantation of Count 
de Noe. His amiable deportment as a slave, the patience, 
mildness, and benevolence of his disposition, and the purity 
of his conduct amid the general laxity of morals which pre- 
vailed in the island, gained for him many of those advantages 
which afterwards gave him such absolute ascendency over 
his insurgent brethren. His good qualities attracted the atten- 
tion of M. Bayou de Libertas, the agent on the estate, who 
taught him reading, writing, and arithmetic, — elements of 
knowledge, which hardly one in ten thousand of his fellow- 
slaves possessed. M. Bayou made him his postillion, which 
gave him advantages much above those of the field slaves. 
When the general rising of the blacks took place, in 1791, 
much solicitation was used to induce Toussaintto join them ; 
but he declined, until he had procured an opportunity for the 
escape of M. Bayou and his family to Baltimore, shipping a 
considerable quantity of sugar for the supply of their imme- 
diate wants. In his subsequent prosperity, he availed him- 
self of every occasion to give them new marks of his grati- 
tude. Having thus provided security for his benefactor, he 
joined a corps of blacks, under the orders of General Bias- 
sou ; but was soon raised to the principal command, Biassou 
being degraded on account of his cruelty and ferocity. In- 
deed, Toussaint was every way so much superior to the 
other negroes, by reason of his general intelligence and 
education, his prudence, activity and address, not less than 
his bravery, that he immediately attained a complete ascen- 
dency over all the black chieftains. In 1797, Toussaint 
received from the French government a commission of 
General-in-Chief of the armies of St. Domingo, and as such 
signed the convention with General Maitland for the evacu- 
ation of the island by the British. From 1798 until 1801, 
the island continued tranquil under the government of Tous- 
saint, who adopted and enforced the most judicious measures 
for healing the wounds of his country, and restoring its com- 
mercial and agricultural prosperity. His efforts would have 
been attended with much success, but for the ill-judged expe- 



INTELLECT OF NEGROES. 167 

dition, which Bonaparte sent against the island, under the 
command of Le Clerc. This expedition, fruitless as it was 
in respect of its general object, proved fatal to the negro 
chieftain. 

Toussaint was noted for private virtues ; among the rest, 
warm affection for his family. Le Clerc brought out from 
France Toussaint's two sons, with their preceptor, whose 
orders were to carry his pupils to their father, and make use 
of them to work on his tenderness, and induce him to aban- 
don his countrymen. If he yielded, he was to be made second 
in command to Le Clerc ; if he refused, his children were 
to be reserved as hostages of his fidelity to the French. 
Notwithstanding the greatness of the sacrifice demanded of 
him, Toussaint remained faithful to his brethren. We pass 
over the details of the war, which at length, ended in a treaty 
of peace concluded by Toussaint, Dessalines and Christophe, 
against their better judgment, but in consequence of the 
effect of Le Clerc's professions upon their simple followers, 
who were induced to lay down their arms. Toussaint retired 
to his plantation, relying upon the solemn assurances of Le 
Clerc, that his person and property should be held sacred. 
Notwithstanding these assurances, he was treacherously 
seized in the night, hurried on board a ship of war, and con- 
veyed to Brest. He was conducted first to close prison in 
Chateaux de Joux, and from thence to Besancon, where he 
was plunged into a cold, wet, subterranean prison, which soon 
proved fatal to a constitution used only to the warm skies 
and free air of the West Indies. He languished through the 
winter of 1802-1803; and his death, which happened in 
April, 1803, raised a cry of indignation against the govern- 
ment, which had chosen this dastardly method of destroying 
one of the best and bravest of the negro race. 

Toussaint L'Ouverture is thus spoken of by Vincent, in 
his Reflections on the state of St. Domingo : " Toussaint 
L'Ouverture is the most active and indefatigable man, of 
whom it is possible to form an idea. He is always present 
wherever difficulty or danger makes his presence necessary. 
His great sobriety, — the power of living without repose, — 
the facility with which he resumes the affairs of the cabinet, 
after the most tiresome excursions, — of answering daily a 
hundred letters, — and of habitually tiring five secretaries — 
render him so superior to all around him, that their respect 
and submission almost amount to fanaticism. It is certain 



168 INTELLECT OF NEGROES. 

no man in modern times has obtained such an influence over 
a mass of ignorant people, as General Toussaint possesses 
over his brethren of St. Domingo. He is endowed with a 
prodigious memory. He is a good father and a good husband." 

Toussaint re-established religious worship in St. Domingo ; 
and on account of his zeal in this respect, a certain class of 
men called him, in derision, the Capuchin. 

With the genius and energy of Bonaparte, General Tous- 
saint is said to have possessed the same political duplicity, 
and far-sighted cunning. These are qualities which almost 
inevitably grew out of the peculiar circumstances in which 
they were placed, and the obstacles with which they were 
obliged to contend. 

Wordsworth addressed the following sonnet to Toussaint, 
L'Ouverture : 

" Toussaint, thou most unhappy man of men ! 
Whether the whistling rustic tends his plough 
Within thy hearing, or thou liest now- 
Buried in some deep dungeon's earless den ; — 
Oh, miserable chieftain ! where and when 
Wilt thou find patience ? Yet die not ; do thou 
Wear rather in thy bonds a cheerful brow : 
Though fallen thyself, never to rise again, 
Live, and take comfort. Thou hast left behind 
Powers that will work for thee ; air, earth and skies ; 
There's not a breathing of the common wind 
That will forget thee ; thou hast great allies. 
Thy friends are exultations, agonies, 
And love, and man's unconquerable mind." 

Godwin, in his admirable Lectures on Colonial Slavery, 
says : " Can the West India islands, since their first dis- 
covery by Columbus, boast a single name which deserves 
comparison with that of Toussaint L'Ouverture ?" 

If we are willing to see and believe, we have full oppor- 
tunity to convince ourselves that the colored population are 
highly susceptible of cultivation. St. Domingo produces 
black legislators, scholars, and gentlemen. The very negroes 
who had been slaves, formed a constitution that would do 
credit to paler-faced statesmen — Americans may well blush 
at its consistent republicanism, 

The enemies of true freedom were very ready to predict 
that the government of Hayti could not continue for any 
length of time ; but it has now lasted nearly thirty years, 
constantly increasing in respectability and wealth. The 
affairs of Greece have been managed with much less ability 



INTELLECT OF NEGROES. 169 

and discretion, though ail the cabinets of Europe have given 
assistance and advice, St. Domingo achieved her indepen- 
dence alone and unaided — nay, in the very teeth of prejudice 
and scorn. The Greeks had loans from England, and con- 
tributions from America, and sympathy from half the world; 
the decisive battle of Navarino was gained by the combined 
fleets of England, France and Russia. Is it asked why Hayti 
lias not produced any examples of splendid genius 1 In reply 
let me inquire, how long did the Europeans ridicule us for 
our poverty in literature ? When Raynal reproached the 
United States with not having produced one celebrated man, 
Jefferson requested him to wait until we had existed " as long 
as the Greeks before they had a Homer, the Romans a Vir- 
gil, and the French a Racine." Half a century elapsed 
before our republic produced Irving, Cooper, Sedgwick, Hal- 
leck, and Bryant. We must not forget that the cruel pre- 
judice, under which colored people labor, makes it extremely 
difficult for them to gain admission to the best colleges and 
schools ; they are obliged to contend with obstacles, which 
white men never encounter. 

It might seem wonderful that the descendants of wise Ethi- 
opia, and learned Egypt, are now in such a state of degra- 
dation, if history did not furnish a remarkable parallel in the 
condition of the modern Greeks. The land of Homer, Per- 
icles, and Plato, is now inhabited by ignorant, brutal pirates. 
Freedom made the Grecians great and glorious — tyranny 
has made them stupid and miserable. Yet their yoke has 
been light, compared with African bondage. In both cases 
the wrongs of the oppressed have been converted into an 
argument against them. We first debase the nature of man 
by making him a slave, and then very coolly tell him that 
he must always remain a slave because he does not know 
how to use freedom. We first crush people to the earth, 
and then claim the right of trampling on them for ever, be- 
cause they are prostrate. Truly, human selfishness never 
invented a rule, which worked so charmingly both ways ! 

No one thinks of doubting the intellect of Indians ; yet 
civilization has certainly advanced much farther in the inte- 
rior of Africa, than it did among the North American tribes. 
The Indians have strong untutored eloquence, — so have the 
Africans. And where will you find an Indian chieftain, 
whose pride, intellect, and valor, are more than a match for 
Zhinga's? Both of these classes have been most shamefully 

15 



170 INTELLECT OF NEGROES. 

wronged ; but public prejudice, which bows the negro to the 
earth, has borne with a far less crushing power upon the 
energies of the red man ; yet they have not produced a 
Shakspeare or a Newton. But I shall be asked how it is 
that tho nations of Africa, having proceeded so far in the arts 
of civilization, have made a full stop, and remained century 
after century without any obvious improvement ? 1 will 
answer this by another question : How long did the ancient 
Hclvetians > Gauls, and Saxons, remain in such a state of 
barbarism, that what they considered splendor and refine- 
ment, would be called poverty and rudeness, by their Ger- 
man, French, and English descendants? What was it that 
changed the intellectual and moral character of these people, 
after ages of ignorance and ferocity ? It was the art of print, 
ing. But, alas, with the introduction of printing, modern 
slavery was introduced ! While commerce has carried books 
and maps to other portions of the globe, she has sent kid- 
nappers, with guns and cutlasses into Africa. We have not 
preached the Gospel of peace to her princes ; we have in- 
cited them to make war upon each other, to fill our markets 
with slaves. While knowledge, like a mighty pillar of fire, 
has guided the European nations still onward, and onward, 
a dark cloud has settled more and more gloomily over be- 
nighted Africa. The lessons of time, the experience of ages, 
from which we have learned so much, are entirely lost to 
this vast continent. 

I have heard it asserted that the Indians were evidently 
superior to the negroes, because it was impossible to enslave 
them. Our slave laws prove that there are some exceptions 
to this remark ; and it must be remembered that the Indians 
have been fairly met in battle, contending with but one na- 
tion at a time ; while the whole world have combined against 
the Africans — sending emissaries to lurk for them in secret 
places, or steal them at midnight from their homes. The 
Indian will seek freedom in the arms of death — and so will 
the negro. By thousands and thousands, these poor people 
have died for freedom. They have stabbed themselves foi 
freedom — jumped into the waves for freedom — starved for 
freedom — fought like very tigers for freedom ! But they 
have been hung, and burned, and shot — and their tyrants 
have been their historians ! When the Africans have writers 
of their own, we shall hear their efforts for liberty called 
by the true tide of heroism in a glorious cause. We are 



INTELLECT OF NEGROES. 171 

told in the fable that a lion, looking at the picture of one of 
his own species, conquered and trampled on by man, calmly 
said, " We lions have no painters." 

I shall be told that in the preceding examples I have 
shown only the bright side of the picture. I readily grant 
it ; but I have deemed it important to show that the picture 
has a bright side. I am well aware that most of the negro 
authors are remarkable principally because they are negroes. 
With considerable talent, they generally evince bad taste. 
I do not pretend that they are Scotts or Miltons ; but I wish 
to prove that they are mew., capable of producing their pro. 
portion of Scotts and Miltons, if they could be allowed to live 
in a state of physical and intellectual freedom. But where, 
at the present time, can they live in perfect freedom, cheered 
by the hopes and excited by the rewards, which stimulate 
white men to exertion 1 Every avenue to distinction is closed 
to them. Even where the body is suffered to be free, a 
hateful prejudice keeps the soul in fetters. I think every 
candid mind must admit that it is more wonderful they have 
done so much, than that they have done no more. 

As a class, I am aware that the negroes, with many hon- 
orable exceptions, are ignorant, and show little disposition 
to be otherwise ; but this ceases to be the case just in pro- 
portion as they are free. The fault is in their unnatural 
situation, not in themselves. Tyranny always dwarfs the 
intellect. Homer tells us, that when Jupiter condemns aman 
to slavery, he takes from him half his mind. A family 
of children treated with habitual violence or contempt, be- 
come stupid and sluggish, and are called fools by the very 
parents or guardians who have crushed their mental energies. 
It was remarked by M. Dupuis, the British Consul at Mog- 
adore, that the generality of Europeans, after a long cap- 
tivity and severe treatment among the Arabs, seemed at first 
exceedingly dull and insensible. " If they had been any 
considerable time in slavery," says he, " they appeared lost 
to reason and feeling ; their spirits broken ; and their facul- 
ties sunk in a species of stupor, which I am unable adequately 
to describe. They appeared degraded even below the ne- 
gro slave. The succession of hardships, without any pro- 
tecting law to which they can appeal for alleviation, or 
redress, seems to destroy every spring of exertion, or hope 
in their minds. They appear indifferent to every thing 
around them ; abject, servile, and brutish." 



172 INTELLECT OF NEGROES. 

Lieutenant Hall, in his Travels in the United States, makes 
the following just remark : " Cut off hope for the future, and 
freedom for the present ; superadd a due pressure of bodily- 
suffering, and personal degradation ; and you have a slave, 
who, (of whatever zone, nation or complexion,) will be what 
the poor African is, torpid, debased, and lowered beneath the 
standard of humanity." 

The great Virginian, Patrick Henry, who certainly had 
a fair chance to observe the effects of slavery, says, " If a 
man be in chains, he droops and bows to the earth, because 
his spirits are broken ; but let him twist the fetters off his 
legs and he will stand erect." 

The following is the testimony of the Rev. R. Walsh, on 
the same subject ; he is describing his first arrival at Rio 
Janeiro : 

" The whole labor of bearing and moving burdens is per- 
formed by these people, and the state in which they appear 
is revolting to humanity. Here were a number of beings 
entirely naked, with the exception of a covering of dirty 
rags, tied about their waists. Their skins, from constant ex- 
posure to the weather, had become hard, crusty, and seamed, 
resembling the coarse black covering of some beast, or like 
that of an elephant, a wrinkled hide scattered Y it!; • ;nty 
hairs. On contemplating their persons, you saw them vyitii 
a physical organization resembling beings of a grade below 
the rank of man ; long projecting heels, the gastronymic 
muscle wanting, and no calves to their legs ; their mouths 
and chins protruded, their noses flat, their foreheads retiring, 
having exactly the head and legs of the baboon tribe. Some 
of these beings were yoked to drays, on which they dragged 
heavy burdens. Some were chained by the neck and legs, 
and moved with loads thus encumbered. Some followed 
each other in ranks, with heavy weights on their heads, chat- 
tering in the most inarticulate and dismal cadence as they 
moved along. Some were munching young sugar-canes, 
like beasts of burden eating green provender ; and some 
were seen near the water, lying on the bare ground among 
filth and offal, coiled up like dogs, and seeming to expect or 
require no more comfort or accommodation, exhibiting a 
state and conformation so unhuman, that they not only seemed 
but actually were, far below the inferior animals around 
them. Horses and mules were not employed in this way ; 
'hey were used only for pleasure, and not labor. They 



INTELLECT OF NEGROES. 173 

were seen in the same streets, pampered, spirited, and richly 
caparisoned, enjoying a state far superior to the negroes, 
and appearing to look down on the fettered and burdened 
wretches they were passing, as on beings of an inferior rank 
in the creation. Some of the negroes actually seemed to 
envy the caparisons of their fellow-brutes, and eyed with 
jealousy their glittering harness. In imitation of this finery, 
they were fond of thrums of many-colored threads ; and I 
saw one creature, who supported the squalid rag that wrap- 
ped his waist by a suspender of gaudy worsted, which he 
turned every moment to look at on his naked shoulder. The 
greater number, however, were as unconscious of any cov- 
ering for use or ornament, as a pig or an ass. 

" The first impression of all this on my mind, was to shake 
the conviction I had alwaj^s felt, of the wrong and hardship 
inflicted on our black fellow-creatures, and that they were 
only in that state which God and nature had assigned them ; 
that they were the lowest grade of human existence, and the 
link that connected it with the brute ; and that the gradation 
was so insensible, and their natures so intermingled, that it 
was impossible to tell where one had terminated and the 
other commenced ; and that it was not surprising that peo- 
ple who contemplated them every day, so formed, so em- 
ployed, and so degraded, should forget their claims to that 
rank in the scale of being in which modern philanthropists 
are so anxious to place them. I did not at the moment 
myself recollect, that the white man, made a slave on the 
coast of Africa, suffers not only a similar mental but physical 
deterioration from hardships and emaciation, and becomes in 
time the dull and deformed beast I now saw yoked to a 
burden. 

" A few hours only were necessary to correct my first 
impressions of the negro population, by seeing them under a 
different aspect. We were attracted by the sound of mili- 
tary music, and found it proceeded from a regiment drawn 
up in one of the streets. Their colonel had just died, and 
they attended to form a procession to celebrate his obse- 
quies. They were all of different shades of black, but the 
majority were negroes. Their equipment was excellent; 
they wore dark jackets, white pantaloons, and black leather 
caps and belts, all which, with their arms, were in high order. 
Their band produced sweet and agreeable music, of the 
leader's own composition, and the men went through some 
15* 



174 INTELLECT OP NEGROES. 

evolutions with regularity and dexterity. They were only 
a militia regiment, yet were as well appointed and disciplined 
as one of our regiments of the line. Here then was the first 
step in that gradation by which the black population of this 
country ascend in the scale of humanity ; he advances from 
the state below that of a beast of burden into a military rank, 
and he shows himself as capable of discipline and improvement 
as a human being of any other color. 

" Our attention was next attracted by negro men and 
women bearing about a variety of articles for sale; some in 
baskets, some on boards and cases carried on their heads. 
They belonged to a class of small shopkeepers, many of 
whom vend their wares at home, but the greater number send 
them about in this way, as in itinerant shops. A few of 
these people were still in a state of bondage, and brought a 
certain sum every evening to their owners, as the produce 
of their daily labor. But a large proportion, I was informed, 
were free, and exercised this little calling on their own ac- 
count. They were all very neat and clean in their persons, 
and had a decorum and sense of respectability about them, 
superior to whites of the same class and calling. All their 
articles were good in their kind and neatly kept, and they 
sold them with simplicity and confidence, neither wishing to 
take advantage of others, nor suspecting that it would be 
taken of themselves. I bought some confectionary from one 
of the females, and I was struck with the modesty and pro- 
priety of her manner ; she was a young mother, and had 
with her a neatly-dressed child, of which she seemed very 
fond. I gave it a little comfit, and it turned up its dusky 
countenance to her and then to me, taking my sweetmeat 
and at the same time kissing my hand. As yet unacquainted 
with the coin of the country, I had none that was current 
about me, and was leaving the articles ; but the poor young 
woman pressed them on me with a ready confidence, repeat- 
ing in broken Portuguese, outo tempo. I am sorry to say, 
the 'other time' never came, for I could not recognise her 
person afterwards to discharge her little debt, though I went 
to the same place for the purpose. 

" It soon began to grow dark, and I was attracted by a 
number of persons bearing large lighted wax tapers, like 
torches, gathering before a house. As I passed by, one was 
put into my hand by a man who seemed in some authority, 
(ind I was requested to fall into a procession that was form- 



INTELLECT OF NEGROES. 175 

ing. It was the preparation for a funeral, and on such occa- 
sions, I learned that they always request the attendance of a 
passing stranger, and feel hurt if they are refused. I joinec 
the party, and proceeded with them to a neighboring church. 
When we entered we ranged ourselves on each side of a plat- 
form which stood near the choir, on which was laid an open 
coffin, covered with pink silk and gold borders. The funeral 
service was chanted by a choir of priests, one of whom was 
a negro, a large comely man, whose jet-black visage formed 
a strong and striking contrast to his white vestments. He 
seemed to perform his part with a decorum and sense of so- 
lemnity, which I did not observe in his brethren. After scat- 
tering flowers on the coffin, and fumigating it with incense, they 
retired, the procession dispersed, and we returned on board. 
" I had been but a few hours on shore for the first time, 
and I saw an African negro under four aspects of society; 
and it appeared to me, that in every one, his character de- 
pended on the state in which he was placed, and the estima- 
tion in which he was held. As a despised slave, he was far 
lower than other animals of burden that surrounded him ; 
more miserable in his look ? more revolting in his nakedness, 
more distorted in his person, and apparently more deficient 
in intellect, than the horses and mules that passed him by. 
Advanced to the grade of a soldier, he was clean and neat 
in his person, amenable to discipline, expert at his exercises, 
and showed the port and bearing of a white man similarly 
placed. As a citizen, he was remarkable for the respecta- 
bility of his appearance, and the decorum of his manners in 
the rank assigned him ; and as a priest, standing in the house 
of God, appointed to instruct society on their most important 
interests, and in a grade in which moral and intellectual fit- 
ness is required, and a certain degree of superiority is ex- 
pected, he seemed even more devout in his impressions, and 
more correct in his manners, than his white associates. I 
came, therefore, to the irresistible conclusion in my mind, 
that color was an accident affecting the surface of a man, 
and having no more to do with his qualities than his clothes 
— that God had equally created an African in the image of 
his person, and equally given him an immortal soul ; and 
that a European had no pretext but his own cupidity, for 
impiously thrusting his fellow-man from that rank in the 
creation which the Almighty had assigned him, and degrad- 
ing him below the lot of the brute beasts that perish." 



170 INTELLECT OF NEGROES. 

The honorable A. H. Everett, in his able work on the polit- 
ical situation of America, says, " Nations, and races, like 
individuals, have their day, and seldom have a second. The 
blacks had a long and glorious one ; and after what they 
have been and done, it argues not so much a mistaken theory, 
as sheer ignorance of the most notorious historical facts, to 
pretend that they are naturally inferior to the whites. It 
would seem indeed, that if any race have a right claim to a 
sort of pre-eminence over others, on the fair and honorable 
ground of talents displayed, and benefits conferred, it is pre- 
cisely this very one, which we take upon us, in the pride of 
a temporary superiority, to stamp with the brand of essential 
degradation. It is hardly necessary to add, that while the 
blacks were the leading race in civilization and political 
power, there was no prejudice among the whites against 
their color. On the contrary, we find that the early Greeks 
regarded them as a superior variety of the human species, 
not only in intellectual and moral qualities, but in outward 
appearance. « The Ethiopians,' says Herodotus, ' surpass 
all other men in longevity, stature, and personal beauty.' " 

Then let the slaveholder no longer apologize for himself 
by urging the stupidity and sensuality of negroes. It is upon 
the system, which thus transforms men into beasts, that the 
reproach rests in all its strength and bitterness. And even 
if the negroes were, beyond all doubt, our inferiors in intel- 
lect, this would form no excuse for oppression, or contempt. 
The use of law and public opinion is to protect the weak 
against the strong ; and the government, which perverts 
these blessings into means of tyranny, resembles the priest, 
who administered poison with the Holy Sacrament. 

Is there an American willing that the intellectual and the 
learned should bear despotic sway over the simple and the 
ignorant ? If there be such a one, he may consistently vin- 
dicate our treatment of the Africans. 



MORAL CHARACTER OF NEGROES. 177 



CHAPTER VII. 

ORAL CHARACTER OF NEGROES, 



" Fleecy locks and black complexion 

Cannot forfeit Nature's claim ; 
Skins may differ, but affection 

Dwells in black and white the same. 

" Slaves of gold ! whose sordid dealings 

Tarnish all your boasted powers, 
Prove that you have human feelings, 

Ere you proudlv question ours." 

The Negro's Complaint; by Cowpeb 



The opinion that negroes are naturally inferior in intel- 
lect is almost universal among white men ; but the belief 
that they are worse than other people, is, I believe, much 
less extensive : indeed, I have heard some, who were by no 
means admirers of the colored race, maintain that they were 
very remarkable for kind feelings, and strong affections. 
Homer calls the ancient Ethiopians "the most honest of 
men ;" and modern travellers have given innumerable in- 
stances of domestic tenderness, and generous hospitality in 
the interior of Africa. Mungo Park informs us that he found 
many schools in his progress through the country, and ob- 
served with pleasure the great docility and submissive deport- 
ment of the children, and heartily wished they had better 
instructers and a purer religion. 

The following is an account of his arrival at Jumbo, in 
company with a native of that place, who had been absent 
several years : " The meeting between the blacksmith and his 
relations was very tender; for these rude children of nature, 
free from restraint, display their emotions in the strongest 
and most expressive manner. Amidst these transports, the 
aged mother was led forth, leaning upon a staff. Every 
one made way for her, and she stretched out her hand to bid 
her son welcome. Being totally blind, she stroked his hands, 
arms, and face, with great care, and seemed highly delighted 
that her latter days were blessed by his return, and that her 



178 



CHARACTER OF N. 



ears once more heard the music of his voice. From this 
interview, I was fully convinced, that whatever difference 
there is between the negro and the European, in the confor- 
mation of the nose, and the color of the skin, there is none 
in the genuine sympathies and characteristic feelings of our 
common nature." 

At a small town in the interior, called Wawra, he says, 
"In the course of the day, several women, hearing that I 
was going to Sego, came and begged me to inquire of Man- 
song, the king, what was become of their children. One 
woman, in particular, told me that her son's name was Ma- 
madee ; that he was no heathen ; but prayed to God morn- 
ing and evening ; that he had been taken from her about 
three years ago by Mansong's army, since which she had 
never heard from him. She said she often dreamed about 
him, and begged me, if I should see him m Bambarra, or in 
my own country, to tell him that his mother and sister were 
still alive." 

At Sego, in Bambarra, the king, being jealous of Mr. 
Park's intentions, forbade him to cross the river. Under 
these discouraging circumstances, he was advised to lodge 
at a distant village ; but there the same distrust of the white 
man's purposes prevailed, and no person would allow him to 
enter his house. He says, " I was regarded with astonish- 
ment and fear, and was obliged to sit all day without food, 
under the shade of a tree. The wind rose, and there was 
great appearance of a heavy rain, and the wild beasts are so 
very numerous in the neighborhood, that I should have been 
under the necessity of resting among the branches of the tree. 
About sunset, however, as I was preparing to pass the night 
in this manner, and had turned my horse loose, that he might 
graze at liberty, a woman, returning from the labors of the 
field, stopped to observe me. Perceiving that I was weary 
and dejected, she inquired into my situation, which I briefly 
explained to her ; whereupon, with looks of great compas- 
sion, she took up my saddle and bridle and told me to follow 
her. Having conducted me into her hut, she lighted a lamp, 
spread a mat on the floor, and told me I might remain there 
for the night. Finding that I was hungry, she went out, and 
soon returned with a very fine fish, which being broiled upon 
some embers, she gave me for supper. The women then 
resumed their task of spinning cotton, and lightened their 
labor with songs, one of which must have been composed 



MORAL CHARACTER OF NEGROES. 



179 




180 MORAL CHARACTER OF NEGROES. 

extempore, for I was myself the subject of it. It was sung 
by one of the young women, the rest joining in a kind of 
chorus. The air was sweet and plaintive, and the words 
literally translated, were these : 

" The winds roar'd, and the rains fell ; 
The poor white man, faint and weary, 
Came and sat under our tree. — 
He has no mother to bring him milk ; 
No wife to grind his corn. 

CHORUS. 

" Let us pity the white man ; 
No mother has he to bring him milk v 
No wife to grind his corn." 

The reader can fully sympathize with this intelligent and 
liberal-minded traveller, when he observes, " Trifling as this 
recital may appear, the circumstance was highly affecting to 
a person in my situation. I was oppressed with such unex- 
pected kindness, and sleep fled from my eyes. In the morn- 
ing, I presented my compassionate landlady with two of the 
four brass buttons remaining on my waistcoat ; the only rec 
ompense I could make her." 

The Duchess of Devonshire, whose beauty and talent 
gained such extensive celebrity, was so much pleased with 
this African song, and the kind feelings in which it origina- 
ted, that she put it into English verse, and employed an emi- 
nent composer to set it to music : 

The loud wind roar'd, the rain fell fast ; 
The white man yielded to the blast ; 
He sat him down beneath our tree, 
For weary, faint, and sad was he ; 
And ah, no wife or mother's care, 
For him the milk or corn prepare. 

CHORUS. 

The white man shall our pity share; 
Alas ! no wife, or mother's care, 
For him the milk or corn prepare. 

The storm is o'er, the tempest past, 
And mercy's voice has hush'd the blast ; 
The wind is heard in whispers low ; 
The white man far away must go ; — 
But ever in his heart will bear 
Remembrance of the negro's care. 

CHORUS. 

Go, white man, go — but with thee bear 
The negro's wish, the negro's prayer, 
Remembrance of the negro's care. 



MORAL CHARACTER OP NEGROES. 181 

At another time, Mr. Park thus continues his narrative : 
" A little before sunset, I descended on the northwest side of 
a ridge of hills, and as I was looking about for a convenient 
tree, under which to pass the night, (for I had no hopes of 
reaching any town) I descended into a delightful valley, and 
soon afterward arrived at a romantic village called Kooma. 
I was immediately surrounded by a circle of the harmless 
villagers. They asked me a thousand questions about my 
country, and in return for my information brought corn and 
milk for myself, and grass for my horse ; kindled a fire, in 
the hut where I was to sleep, and appeared very anxious to 
serve me." 

Afterward, being robbed and stripped by a banditti in the 
wilderness, he informs us that the robbers stood considering 
whether they should leave him quite destitute ; even in their 
minds, humanity partially prevailed over avarice ; they re- 
turned the worst of two shirts, and a pair of trowsers ; and 
as they went away, one of them threw back his hat. At 
the next village, Mr. Park entered a complaint to the Dooty, 
or chief man, who continued very calmly smoking while he 
listened to the narration ; but when he had heard all the par- 
ticulars, he took the pipe from his mouth, and tossing up the 
sleeve of his cloak with an indignant air, he said, " You shall 
have every thing restored to you — I have sworn it." Then, 
turning to an attendant, he added, " Give the white man a 
draught of water ; and with the first light of morning go 
over the hills, and inform the Dooty of Bammakoo, that a 
poor white man, the king of Bambarra's stranger, has been 
robbed by the king of FooWoo's people." He then invited 
the traveller to remain with him, and share his provisions, 
until the messenger returned. Mr. Park accepted the kind 
offer most gratefully : and in a few days his horse and 
clothes were restored to him. 

At the village of Nemacoo, where corn was so scarce that 
the people were actually in a state of starvation, a negro 
pitied his distress and brought him food. 

At Kamalia, Mr. Park was earnestly dissuaded by an 
African named Karfa, from attempting to cross the Jalonka 
wilderness during the rainy season ; to which he replied that 
there was no alternative — for he was so poor, that he must 
either beg his subsistence from place to place, or perish with 
hunger. Karfa eagerly inquired if he could eat the food of 
the country, adding that, if he would stay with him, he should 

16 



182 MORAL CHARACTER OF NEGROES. 

have plenty of victuals, and a hut to sleep in ; and that after 
he had been safely conducted to the Gambia, he might make 
what return he thought proper. He was accordingly pro- 
vided with a mat to sleep on, an earthern jar for holding 
water, a small calabash for a drinking cup, and two meals a 
day, with a supply of wood and water, from Karfa's own 
dwelling. Here he recovered from a fever, which had tor- 
mented him several weeks. His benevolent landlord came 
daily to inquire after his health, and see that he had every 
thing for his comfort. Mr. Park assures us that the simple 
and affectionate manner of those around him contributed not 
a little to his recovery. He adds, " Thus was I delivered, 
by the friendly care of this benevolent negro, from a situa- 
tion truly deplorable. Distress and famine pressed hard upon 
me ; I had before me the gloomy wilderness of Jallonkadoo, 
where the traveller sees no habitation for five successive days. 
I had observed, at a distance, the rapid course of the river 
Kokaro, and had almost marked out the place where I thought 
I was doomed to perish, when this friendly negro stretched 
out his hospitable hand for my relief." Mr. Park having 
travelled in company with a coffle of thirty-five slaves, thus 
describes his feelings as they came near the coast : " Al- 
though I was now approaching the end of my tedious and 
toilsome journey, and expected in another day to meet with 
countrymen and friends, I could not part with my unfortu- 
nate fellow-travellers, — doomed as I knew most of them to 
be, to a life of slavery in a foreign land, — without great 
emotion. During a peregrination of more than five hundred 
miles, exposed to the burning rays of a tropical sun, theso 
poor slaves, amidst their own infinitely greater sufferings, 
would commiserate mine, and frequently, of their own ac- 
cord, bring water to quench my thirst, and at night collect 
branches and leaves to prepare me a bed in the wilderness. 
We parted with mutual regret and blessings. My good 
wishes and prayers were all I could bestow upon them, and 
it afforded me some consolation „r be told that they were sen- 
sible I had no more to give." 

The same enlightened traveller remarks, " All the negro 
nations that fell under my observation, though divided into 
a number of petty, independent states, subsist chiefly by the 
same means, live nearly in the same temperature, and pos- 
sess a wonderful similarity of disposition. The Mandingoes, 
in particular, are a very gentle race, cheerful, inquisitive, 



MORAL CHARACTER OF NEGROES. 183 

credulous, simple, and fond of flattery. Perhaps the most 
prominent defect in their character, was that insurmountable 
propensity, which the reader must have observed to prevail 
in all classes, to steal from me the few effects I was possessed 
of. No complete justification can be offered for this conduct, 
because theft is a crime in their own estimation ; and it must 
be observed that they are not habitually and generally guilty 
of it towards each other. But before we pronounce them a 
more depraved people than any other, it were well to con- 
sider, whether the lower class of people in any part of Eu- 
rope, would have acted, under similar circumstances, with 
greater honesty towards a stranger. It must be remembered 
that the laws of the country afforded me no protection ; that 
every one was permitted to rob me with impunity ; and that 
some part of my effects were of as great value in the estima- 
tion of the negroes, as pearls and diamonds would have been 
in the eyes of a European. Let us suppose a black merchant 
of Hindostan had found his way into England, with a box 
sf jewels at his back, and the laws of the kingdom afforded 
him no security — in such a case, the wonder would be, not 
that the stranger was robbed of any part of his riches, but 
that any part was left for a second depredator.* Such, on 
sober reflection, is the judgment I have formed concerning 
the pilfering disposition of the Mandingo negroes toward me. 
" On the other hand, it is impossible for me to forget the 
disinterested charity, and tender solicitude, with which many 
of these poor heathens, from the sovereign of Sego, to the 
poor women, who at different times received me into their 
cottages, sympathized with my sufferings, relieved my dis- 
tress, and contributed to my safety. Perhaps this acknow- 
ledgment is more particularly due to the female part of the 
nation. Among the men, as the reader must have seen, my 
reception, though generally kind, was sometimes otherwise. 
It varied according to the tempers of those to whom I made 
application. Avarice in some, and bigotry in others, had 
closed up the avenues to compassion ; but I do not recollect 
a single instance of hard-heartedness towards me in the 
women. In all my wanderings and wretchedness, I found 
them uniformly kind and compassionate ; and I can truly 
say, as Mr. Ledyard has eloquently said before me — ' To a 

* Or suppose a colored pedler with valuable goods travelling in slave 
states, where the laws afford little or no protection to negro property, 
what would probably be his fate ? 



184 MORAL CHARACTER OF NEGROES. 

woman, I never addressed myself in the language of decency 
and friendship, without receiving a decent and friendly an- 
swer. If I was hungry, or thirsty, wet, or ill, they did not 
hesitate, like the men, to perform a generous action. In so 
free and so kind a manner, did they contribute to my relief, 
that if I were thirsty, I drank the sweeter draught ; and if 
I were hungry, I ate the coarsest meal with a double relish. ' 

" It is surely reasonable to suppose that the soft and amia- 
ble sympathy of nature, thus spontaneously manifested to me 
in my distress, is displayed by these poor people as occasion 
requires, much more strongly toward those of their own 
nation and neighborhood. Maternal affection, neither sup- 
pressed by the restraints, nor diverted by the solicitudes of 
civilized life, is every where conspicuous among them, and 
creates reciprocal tenderness in the child. ' Strike me,' said 
a negro to his master, who spoke disrespectfully of his pa- 
rent, ' but do not curse my mother.' The same sentiment I 
found to prevail universally." 

" I perceived, with great satisfaction, that the maternal 
solicitude extended not only to the growth and security of the 
person, but also, in a certain degree, to the improvement of 
the character ; for one of the first lessons, which the Man- 
dingo women teach their children, is the practice of truth. 
A poor unhappy mother, whose son had been murdered by 
a Moorish banditti, found consolation in her deepest distress 
from the reflection that her boy, in the whole course of his 
blameless life, had never told a lie." 

Adanson, who visited Senegal, in 1754, describes the ne- 
groes as sociable, obliging, humane, and hospitable. " Their 
amiable simplicity," says he, " in this enchanting country, 
recalled to me the idea of the primitive race of man ; I 
thought I saw the world in its infancy. They are distin- 
guished by tenderness for their parents, and great respect 
for the aged." Robin speaks of a slave at Martinico, who 
having gained money sufficient for his own ransom, preferred 
to purchase his mother's freedom. 

Proyart, in his history of Loango, acknowledges that the 
negroes on the coast, who associate with Europeans, are in- 
clined to licentiousness and fraud ; but he says those of the 
interior are humane, obliging, and hospitable. Golberry re- 
peats the same praise, and rebukes the presumption of white 
men in despising " nations improperly called savage, among 
whom we find men of integrity, models of filial, conjugal, and 



MORAL CHARACTER OF NEGROES. 185 

paternal affection, who know all the energies and refinements 
of virtue ; among whom sentimental impressions are more 
deep, because they observe, more than we, the dictates of 
nature, and know how to sacrifice personal interest to the ties 
of friendship." 

Joseph Rachel, a free negro of Barbadoes, having become 
rich by commerce, consecrated all his fortune to acts of charity 
and beneficence. The unfortunate of all colors shared his 
kindness. He gave to the needy, lent without hope of return, 
visited prisoners, and endeavored to reform the guilty. He 
died in 1758. The philanthropists of England speak of him 
with the utmost respect. 

Jasmin Thoumazeau was born in Africa, 1714, and sold 
at St. Domingo, 1736. Having obtained his freedom, he re- 
turned to his native country, and married a negro girl of the 
Gold Coast. In 1756, he established a hospital for poor ne- 
groes and mulattoes. During more than forty years, he and 
his wife devoted their time and fortune to the comfort of such 
invalids as sought their protection. The Philadelphian So- 
ciety, at the Cape, and the Agricultural Society of Paris, 
decreed medals to this worthy and benevolent man. 

Louis Desrouleaux was the slave of M. Pinsum, a captain 
in the negro trade, who resided at St. Domingo. The mas- 
ter having amassed great riches, went to reside in France, 
where circumstances combined to ruin him. Depressed in 
fortune and spirits, he returned to St. Domingo ; but those 
who had formerly been proud of his friendship, now avoided 
him. Louis heard of his misfortunes and immediately went 
to see him. The scales were now turned ; the negro was 
rich, and the white man poor. The generous fellow offered 
every assistance, but advised M. Pinsum by all means to re- 
turn to France, where he would not.be pained by the sight 
of ungrateful men. " But I cannot gain a living there," 
replied the white man. " Will the annual revenue of fifteen 
thousand francs be sufficient 1" asked Louis. The French- 
man's eyes filled with tears. The negro signed the contract, 
and the pension was regularly paid, till the death of Louis 
Desrouleaux, in 1774. 

Benoit of Palermo, also named Benoit of Santo Fratello, 
sometimes called The Holy Black, was a negro, and the son 
of a female slave. Roccho Pirro, author of the Sicilia Sacra, 
eulogizes him thus : " Nigro quidem corpore sed candore 
animi prase] arisimus quern miraculis Deus con f estatum esse 
16* 



186 MORAL CHARACTER OF NEGROES. 

voluit." " His body was black, but it pleased God to testify- 
by miracles the whiteness of his soul." He died at Palermo, 
in 1589, where his tomb and memory are much revered. A 
few years ago, it was said the Pope was about to authorize 
his canonization. Whether he is yet registered as a saint in 
the Calendar, I know not ; but many writers agree that he 
was a saint indeed — eminent for his virtues, which he prac- 
tised in meekness and silence, desiring no witness but his God. 

The moral character of Toussaint L'Quverture is even 
more worthy of admiration than his intellectual acuteness. 
What can be more beautiful than his unchanging gratitude 
to his benefactor, his warm attachment to his family, his high- 
minded sacrifice of personal feeling to the public good ? He 
was a hero in the sublimest sense of the word. Yet he had 
no white blood in his veins — he was all negro. 

The following description of a slave-market at Brazil is 
from the pen of Doctor Walsh : " The men were generally 
less interesting objects than the women ; their countenances 
and hues were very varied, according to the part of the Afri- 
can coast from which they came ; some were soot-black, 
having a certain ferocity of aspect that indicated strong and 
fierce passions, like men who were darkly brooding over 
some deep-felt wrongs, and meditating revenge. When any 
one was ordered, he came forward with a sullen indifference, 
threw his arms over his head, stamped with his feet, shouted 
to show the soundness of his lungs, ran up and down the 
room, and was treated exactly like a horse put through his 
paces at a repository ; and when done, he was whipped to 
his stall. 

" Many of them were lying stretched on the bare boards ; 
and among the rest, mothers with young children at their 
breasts, of which they seemed passionately fond. They were 
all doomed to remain on the spot, like sheep in a pen, till they 
were sold ; they have no apartment to retire to, no bed to 
repose on, no covering to protect them ; they sit naked all 
day, and lie naked all night, on the bare boards, or benches, 
where we saw them exhibited. 

" Among the objects that attracted my attention in this 
place were some young boys, who seemed to have formed a 
society together. I observed several times in passing by, 
that the same little group was collected near a barred win- 
dow ; they seemed very fond of each other, and their kindly 
feelings were never interrupted by peevishness ; indeed, the 



MORAL CHARACTER OF NEGROES. 187 

temperament of a negro child is generally so sound, that he 
is not affected by those little morbid sensations, which are 
the frequent cause of crossness and ill-temper in our children. 
I do not remember that I ever saw a young black fretful, 
or out of humor; certainly never displaying those ferocious 
fits of petty passion, in which the superior nature of infant 
whites indulges. I sometimes brought cakes and fruit in my 
pocket, and handed them in to the group. It was quite de- 
lightful to observe the generous and disinterested manner in 
which they distributed them. There was no scrambling with 
one another ; no selfish reservation to themselves. The child 
to whom I happened to give them, took them so gently, looked 
so thankfully, and distributed them so generously, that I could 
not help thinking that God had compensated their dusky hue, 
by a more than usual human portion of amiable qualities." 

Several negroes in Jamaica were to be hung. One of 
them was offered his life, if he would hang the others ; he 
preferred death. A negro slave who was ordered to do it, 
asked time to prepare ; he went into his cabin, chopped off 
his right hand with an axe, and then came back, saying he 
was ready. 

Sutcliffin his Travels, speaks of meeting a cofrle of slaves 
in Maryland, one of whom had voluntarily gone into slavery, 
in hopes of meeting her husband, who was a free black and 
had been stolen by kidnappers. The poor creature was in 
treacherous hands, and it is a great chance whether she ever 
saw her husband again. 

An affecting instance of negro friendship may be found in 
1 Bay's Report, 260-3. A female slave in South Carolina 
was allowed to work out in the town, on condition that she 
paid her master a certain sum of money, per month. Being 
strong and industrious, her wages amounted to more than 
had been demanded in their agreement. After a time she 
earned enough to buy her freedom ; but she preferred to 
devote the sum to the emancipation of a negro girl, named 
Sally, for whom she had conceived a strong affection. For 
a long time the master pretended to have no property in his 
slave's manumitted friend, never paid taxes for her, and often 
spoke of her as a free negro. But, from some motive or other, 
he afterward claimed Sally as his slave, on the ground that no 
slave could make any purchase on his own account, or possess 
any thing which did not legally belong to his master. It is 
an honor to Chief Justice Rutledge that his charge was given 



188 MORAL CHARACTER OF NEGROES. 

in a spirit better than the laws. He concluded by saying, 
" If the wench choose to appropriate the savings of her extra 
labor to the purchase of this girl, in order to set her free, 
will a jury of the country say, No? I trust not. I hope 
they are too upright and humane, to do such manifest vio- 
lence to such an extraordinary act of benevolence." By 
the prompt decision of the jury, Sally was declared free.* 

In speaking of the character of negroes, it ought not to be 
omitted that many of them were brave and faithful soldiers 
during our Revolution. Some are now receiving pensions 
for their services. At New-Orleans, likewise, the conduct 
of the colored troops was deserving of the highest praise. 

It is common to speak of the negroes as a very unfeeling 
race ; and no doubt the charge has considerable truth when 
applied to those in a state of bondage ; for slavery blunts 
the feelings, as well as stupifies the intellect. The poor 
negro is considered as having no right in his wife and chil- 
dren. They may be suddenly torn from him to be sold in a 
distant market ; but he cannot prevent the wrong. He may 
see them exposed to every species of insult and indignity ; 
but the law, which stretches forth her broad shield to guard 
the white man's rights, excludes the negro from her protec- 
tion. They may be tied to the whipping-post and die under 
moderate punishment ; but he dares not complain. If he 
murmur, there is the tormenting lash ; if he resist, it is death. 
And the injustice extends even beyond the grave ; for the 
story of the slave is told by his oppressor, and the manly 
spirit which the poor creature shows, when stung to the 
very heart's core, is represented as diabolical revenge. A 
short time ago, I read in a Georgia paper, what was called 
a horrid transaction, on the part of the negro, A slave 
stood by and saw his wife whipped, as long as he could pos- 
sibly endure the sight ; he then called out to the overseer, 
who was applying the lash, that he would kill him if he did 
not use more mercy. This probably made matters worse ; 
at all events the lashing continued. The husband goaded 
to frenzy, rushed upon the overseer, and stabbed him three 
times. White men ! what would you do, if the laws admitted 
that your wives might " die" of " moderate punishment" ad- 

* Stroud says of the above, " This is an isolated case, of pretty early 
date ; it deserves to be noticed because it is in opposition to the spirit of the 
laws, and to later decisions of the courts." 



MORAL CHARACTER OF NEGROES. 189 

ministered by your employers ? The overseer died, and his 
murderer was either burned or shot, — I forget which. The 
Georgia editor viewed the subject only on one side — viz., 
the monstrous outrage against the white man — the negro's 
wrongs passed for nothing ! It was very gravely added to 
the account (probably to increase the odiousness of the slave's 
offence,) that the overseer belonged to the Presbyterian 
church ! I smiled, — because it made me think of a man, 
whom I once heard described as "a most excellent Christian, 
that would steal timber to build a church." 

This instance shows that even slaves are not quite desti- 
tute of feeling — yet we could not wonder at it, if they were. 
Who could expect the kindly affections to expand in such an 
atmosphere ! Where there is no hope, the heart becomes 
paralyzed : it is a merciful arrangement of Divine Provi- 
dence, by which the acuteness of sensibility is lessened when 
it becomes merely a source of suffering. 

But there are exceptions to this general rule ; instances 
of very strong and deep affection are sometimes found in a 
state of hopeless bondage. Godwin, in his eloquent Lec- 
tures on Colonial Slavery, quotes the following anecdote, as 
related by Mr. T. Pennock, at a public meeting in England : 

"A few years ago it was enacted, that it should not be 
legal to transport once established slaves from one island to 
another ; and a gentleman owner, finding it advisable to do 
so before the act came in force, the removal of a great part 
of his live stock was the consequence. He had a female 
slave, a Methodist, and highly valuable to him, (not the less 
so for being the mother of eight or nine children,) whose 
husband, also of our connection, was the property of another 
resident on the island, where I happened to be at the time. 
Their masters not agreeing on a sale, separation ensued, and 
I went to the beach to be an eye-witness of their behavior 
in the greatest pang of all. One by one, the man kissed his 
children, with the firmness of a hero, and blessing them, 
gave as his last words — (oh ! will it be believed, and have 
no influence upon our veneration for the negro ?) * Farewell ! 
Be honest, and obedient to your master V At length he had 
to take leave of his wife : there he stood, (I have him in my 
mind's eye at this moment,) five or six yards from the mother 
of his children, unable to move, speak, or do any thing but 
gaze, and still to gaze, on the object of his long affection, 
soon to cross the blue waves for ever from his aching sight. 



190 MORAL CHARACTER OF NEGROES. 

The fire of his eyes alone gave indication of the passion with- 
in, until after some minutes standing thus, he fell senseless 
on the sand, as if suddenly struck down by the hand of the 
Almighty. Nature could do no more ; the blood gushed 
from his nostrils and mouth, as if rushing from the terrors 
of the conflict within ; and amid the confusion occasioned by 
the circumstance, the vessel bore off his family for ever from 
the island ! After some days he recovered, and came to 
ask advice of me. What could an Englishman do in such 
a case 1 I felt the blood boiling within me ; but I conquered. 
I browbeat my own manhood, and gave him the humblest 
advice I could." 

The following account is given by Mr. Gilgrass, one of 
the Methodist missionaries at Jamaica : " A master of slaves, 
who lived near us in Kingston, exercised his barbarities on 
a Sabbath morning while we were worshiping God in the 
Chapel ; and the cries of the female sufferers have frequently 
interrupted us in our devotions. But there was no redress 
for them, or for us. This man wanted money ; and one of 
the female slaves having two fine children, he sold one of 
them, and the child was torn from her maternal affection. 
In the agony of her feelings, she made a hideous howling ; 
and for that crime she was flogged. Soon after he sold her 
other child. This < turned her heart within her,' and im- 
pelled her into a kind of madness. She howled night and 
day in the yard ; tore her hair ; ran up and down the streets 
and the parade, rending the heavens with her cries, and lit- 
erally watering the earth with her tears. Her constant cry 
was, ' Da wicked massa, he sell me children. Will no buckra 
master pity nega ? What me do ! Me have no child /' As 
she stood before my window, she said, lifting her hands 
towards heaven, ' Do, me master minister, pity me ! Me heart 
do so, (shaking herself violently,) me heart do so, because me 
have no child. Me go a massa house, in ?nassa yard, and in 
me hut, and me no see em ;' and then her cry went up to 
God. I durst not be seen looking at heir." 

A similar instance of strong affection happened in the city 
of Washington, December, 1815. A negro woman, with 
her two children, was sold near Bladensburg, to Georgia 
traders ; but the master refused to sell her husband. When 
the coffle reached Washington, on their way to Georgia, 
the poor creature attempted to escape, by jumping from the 
garret window of a three-story brick tavern. Her arms 



MORAL CHARACTER OF NEGROES. 191 

and back were dreadfully broken. When asked why she 
had done such a desperate act, she replied, " They brought 
me away, and wouldn't let me see my husband ; and I didn't 
want to go. I was so distracted that I didn't know what 1 
was about : but I didn't want to go — and I jumped out of 
the window" The unfortunate woman was given to the 
landlord as a compensation for having her taken care of at 
his house ; her children were sold in Carolina ; and thus was 
this poor forlorn being left alone in her misery. In all this 
wide land of benevolence and freedom, there was no one 
who could protect her : for in such cases, the laws come in, 
with iron grasp, to check the stirrings of human sympathy. 

Another complaint is that slaves have most inveterate 
habits of laziness. No doubt this is true — it would be strange 
indeed if it were otherwise. Where is the human being, who 
will work from a disinterested love of toil, when his labor 
brings no improvement to himself, no increase of comfort to 
his wife and children? 

Pelletan, in his Memoirs of the French Colony of Senegal, 
says, " The negroes work with ardor, because they are now 
unmolested in their possessions and enjoyments. Since the 
suppression of slavery, the Moors make no more inroads 
upon them, and their villages are rebuilt and re-peopled." 
Bosnian, who was by no means very friendly to colored 
people, says : " The negroes of Cabomonte and Juido, are 
indefatigable cultivators, economical of their soil, they scarcely 
leave a foot-path to form a communication between the dif- 
ferent possessions ; they reap one day, and the next they sow 
the same earth, without allowing it time for repose." 

It is needless to multiply quotations ; for the concurrent 
testimony of all travellers proves that industry is a common 
virtue in the interior of Africa. 

Again, it is said that the negroes are treacherous, cunning, 
dishonest, and profligate. Let me ask you, candid reader, 
what you would be, if you labored under the same unnatural 
circumstances ? The daily earnings of the slave, naV, his 
very wife and children, are constantly wrested from him, 
under the sanction of the laws ; is this the way to teach a 
scrupulous regard to the property of others ? How can 
purity be expected from him, who sees almost universal licen- 
tiousness prevail among those whom he is taught to regard as 
his superiors? Besides, we must remember how entirely un- 
protected the negro is in his domestic relations, and how very 



192 MORAL CHARACTER OF NEGROES. 

frequently husband and wife are separated by the caprice, 
or avarice, of the white man. I have no doubt that slaves 
are artful ; for they must be so. Cunning is always the re- 
sort of the weak against the strong ; children, who have 
violent and unreasonable parents, become deceitful in self- 
defence. The only way to make young people sincere and 
frank, is to treat them with mildness and perfect justice. 

The negro often pretends to be ill in order to avoid labor ; 
and if you were situated as he is, you would do the same. 
But it is said that the blacks are malignant and revengeful. 
Granting it to be true, — is it their fault, or is it owing to 
the cruel circumstances in which they are placed ? Surely 
there are proofs enough that they are naturally a kind and 
gentle people. True, they do sometimes murder their mas- 
ters and overseers ; but where there is utter hopelessness, 
can we wonder at occasional desperation ? I do not believe 
that any class of people subject to the same influences, would 
commit fewer crimes. Dickson, in his letters on slavery, 
informs us that among one hundred and twenty thousand 
negroes and Creoles of Barbadoes, only three murders have 
been known to be committed by them in the course of 
thirty years ; although often provoked by the cruelty of the 
planters." 

In estimating the vices of slaves, there are several items 
to be taken into the account. In the first place, we hear a 
great deal of the negroes' crimes, while we hear very little 
of their provocations. If they murder their masters, news- 
papers and almanacs blazon it all over the country ; but if 
their masters murder them, a trifling fine is paid, and nobody 
thinks of mentioning the matter. I believe there are twenty 
negroes killed by white men, where there is one white man 
killed by a black. If you believe this to be mere conjecture, 
I pray you examine the Judicial Reports of the Southern 
States. The voice of humanity, concerning this subject, is 
weak and stifled ; and when a master kills his own slave we 
are not likely to hear the tidings — but the voice of avarice 
is loud and strong ; and it sometimes happens that negroes 
"die under a moderate punishment" administered by other 
hands : then prosecutions ensue, in order to recover the price 
of the slave ; and in Ms way we are enabled to form a tole- 
rable conjecture concerning the frequency of such crimes. 

I have said that we seldom hear of the grievous wrongs 
which provoke the vengeance of the slave; I will tell an 



MORAL CHARACTER OF NEGROES. 193 

anecdote, which I know to be true, as a proof in point. 
Within the last two years, a gentleman residing in Boston, 
was summoned to the West Indies in consequence of troubles 
on his plantation. His overseer had been killed by the slaves. 
This fact was soon made public ; and more than one ex- 
claimed, " what diabolical passions these negroes have !" 
To which I replied, that I only wondered they were half as 
good as they were. It was not long, however, before I dis- 
covered the particulars of the case : and I took some pains 
that the public should likewise be informed of them. The 
overseer was a bad, licentious man. How long and how 
much the slaves endured under his power I know not, but at 
last, he took a fancy to two of the negroes' wives, ordered 
them to be brought to his house, and in spite of their entrea- 
ties and resistance, compelled them to remain as long as he 
thought proper. The husbands found their little huts deserted, 
and knew very well where the blame rested. In such a case, 
you would have gone to law ; but the law does not recog- 
nise a negro's rights — he is the property of his master, and 
subject to the will of his agent. If a slave should talk of 
being protected in his domestic relations, it would cause 
great merriment in a slaveholding State ; the proposition 
would be deemed equally inconvenient and absurd. Under 
such circumstances, the negro husbands took justice into their 
own hands. They murdered the overseer. Four innocent 
slaves were taken up, and upon very slight circumstantial evi- 
dence were condemned to be shot ; but the real actors in this 
scene passed unsuspected. When the unhappy men found 
their companions were condemned to die, they avowed the fact, 
and exculpated all others from any share in the deed. Was 
not this true magnanimity? Can you help respecting those 
negroes ? If you can, I pity you. 

Since the condition of slaves is such as I have described, 
are you surprised at occasional insurrections? You may 
regret it most deeply ; but can you wonder at it. The fa- 
mous Captain Smith, when he was a slave in Tartary, killed 
his overseer and made his escape. I never heard him blamed 
for it — it seems to be universally considered a simple act of 
self-defence. The same thing has often occurred with regard 
to white men taken by the Algerines. 

The Poles have shed Russian " blood enough to float our 
navy;" and we admire and praise them, because li.ey did it 
in resistance of oppression. Yet they have suffered less than 

17 



194 MORAL CHARACTER OF NEGROES. 

black slaves, all the world over, are suffering. We honor 
our forefathers because they rebelled against certain princi- 
ples dangerous to political freedom ; yet from actual, per. 
sonal tyranny, they suffered nothing: the negro on the con- 
trary, is suffering all that oppression can make human nature 
suffer. Why do we execrate in one set of men, what we 
laud so highly in another? I shall be reminded that insur- 
rections and murders are totally at variance with the pre- 
cepts of our religion; and this is most true. But according 
to this rule, the Americans, Poles, Parisians, Belgians, and 
all who have shed blood for the sake of liberty, are more to 
blame than the negroes ; for the former are more enlightened, 
and can always have access to the fountain of religion ; 
while the latter are kept in a state of brutal ignorance — not 
allowed to read their Bibles — knowing nothing of Chris- 
tianity, except the examples of their masters, who profess to 
be governed by its maxims. 

I hope I shall not be misunderstood on this point. I am 
not vindicating insurrections and murders ; the very thought 
makes my blood run cold. I believe revenge is always 
wicked ; but I say, what the laws of every country acknow- 
ledge, that great provocations are a palliation of great crimes. 
When a man steals food because he is starving, we are more 
disposed to pity, than to blame him. And what can human 
nature do, subject to continual and oppressive wrong — hope- 
less of change — not only unprotected by law, but the law 
itself changed into an enemy — and to complete the whole, 
shutout from the instructions and consolations of the Gospel ! 
No wonder the West India missionaries found it very diffi- 
cult to decide what they ought to say to the poor, suffering 
negroes ! They could indeed tell them it was very impolitic 
to be rash and violent, because it could not, under existing 
circumstances, make their situation better, and would be very 
likely to make it worse; but if they urged the maxims of 
religion, the slaves might ask the embarrassing question, is 
not our treatment in direct opposition to the precepts of the 
gospel ? Our masters can read the Bible — they have a chance 
to know better. Why do not Christians deal justly by us, 
before they require us to deal mercifully with them ? 

Think of all these things, kind-hearted reader. Try to 
judge the negro by the same rules you judge other men ; and 
while you condemn his faults, do not forget his manifold prov- 
ocations. 



PREJUDICES AGAINST PEOPLE OF COLOR. 195 



CHAPTER VIII. 



PREJUDICES AGAINST PEOPLE OF COLOR, AND OUR DUTIES IN 
RELATION TO THIS SUBJECT. 

" A negro has a soul, an' please your honor, said the Corporal, (doubtingly.) 

" I am not much versed. Corporal," quoth my Uncle Toby, " In things of that 
kind ; but I suppose God would not leave him without one any more than thee 
or me." » 

"It would be putting one sadly over the head of the other," quoth the Corporal. 

" It would so," said my Uncle Toby. 

" Why then, an' please your honor, is a black man to be used worse than a white 
one." 

" I can give no reason," said my Uncle Toby. 

" Only," cried the Corporal, shaking his head, " because he has no one to stand 
up for him." 

" It is that very thing, Trim," quoth my Uncle Toby, " which recommends him to 
protection." 



While we bestow our earnest disapprobation on the sys- 
tem of Slavery, let us not flatter ourselves that we are in 
reality any better than our brethren of the South. Thanks 
to our soil and climate, and the early exertions of the excel- 
lent Society of Friends, the form of slavery does not exist 
among us ; but the very spirit of the hateful and mischievous 
thing is here in all its strength. The manner in which we 
use what power we have, gives us ample reason to be grate- 
ful that the nature of our institutions does not intrust us with 
more. Our prejudice against colored people is even more 
inveterate than it is at the South. The planter is often at- 
tached to his negroes, and lavishes caresses and kind words 
upon them, as he would on a favorite hound : but our cold- 
hearted, ignoble prejudice admits of no exception — no inter- 
mission. 

The Southerners have long continued habit, apparent inte- 
rest and dreaded danger, to palliate the wrong they do ; but 
we stand without excuse. They tell us that Northern ships 
and Northern capital have been engaged in this wicked busi- 
ness; and the reproach is true. Several fortunes in this city 
have been made by the sale of negro blood. If these criminal 
transactions are still carried on, they are done in silence and 
secrecy, because public opinion has made them disgraceful. 
But if the free States wished to cherish the system of slavery 



196 PREJUDICES AGAINST PEOPLE OF COLOR. 

for ever, they could not take a more direct course than they 
now do. Those who are kind and liberal on all other sub- 
jects, unite with the selfish and the proud in their unrelent- 
ing efforts to keep the colored population in the lowest state 
of degradation ; and the influence they unconsciously exert 
over children early infuses into their innocent minds the same 
strong feelings of contempt. 

The intelligent and well-informed have the least share of 
this prejudice ; and when their minds can be brought to 
reflect upon it, I have generally observed that they soon 
cease to have any at all. But such a general apathy pre- 
vails and the subject is so seldom brought into view, that few 
are really aware how oppressively the influence of society 
is made to bear upon this injured class of the community. 
When I have related facts, that came under my own obser- 
vation, I have often been listened to with surprise, which 
gradually increased to indignation. In order that my read- 
ers may not be ignorant of the extent of this tyrannical pre- 
judice, I will as briefly as possible state the evidence, and 
leave them to judge of it, as their hearts and consciences may 
dictate. 

In the first place, an unjust law exists in this Common- 
wealth, by which marriages between persons of different color 
is pronounced illegal. . I am perfectly aware of the gross 
ridicule to which I may subject myself by alluding to this 
particular ; but I have lived too long, and observed too much, 
to be disturbed by the world's mockery. In the first place, 
the government ought not to be invested with power to con- 
trol the affections, any more than the consciences of citizens. 
A man has at least as good a right to choose his wife, as he 
has to choose his religion. His taste may not suit his neigh- 
bors ; but so long as his deportment is correct, they have no 
right to interfere with his concerns. In the second place, this 
law is a useless disgrace to Massachusetts. Under existing 
circumstances, none but those whose condition in life is too 
low to be much affected by public opinion, will form such 
alliances ; and they, when they choose to do so, will make 
such marriages, in spite of the law. I know two or three 
instances where women of the laboring class have been 
united to reputable, industrious colored men. These husbands 
regularly bring home their wages, and are kind to their fami- 
lies. If by some of the odd chances, which not unfrequently 
qccu'- in the world, their wives should become heirs to anv 



OUR DUTIES IN RELATION TO THIS SUBJECT. 197 

property, the children may be wronged out of it, because the 
law pronounces them illegitimate. And while this injustice 
exists with regard to honest, industrious individuals, who are 
merely guilty of differing from us in a matter of taste, neither 
the legislation nor customs of slaveholding States exert their 
influence against immoral connexions. 

In one portion of our country this fact is shown in a very 
peculiar and striking manner. There is a numerous class 
at New-Orleans, called Quateroons, or Quadroons, because 
their colored blood has for several successive generations 
been intermingled with the white. The women are much 
distinguished for personal beauty and gracefulness of motion ; 
and their parents frequently send them to France for the ad- 
vantages of an elegant education. White gentlemen of the 
first rank are desirous of being invited to their parties, and 
often become seriously in love with these fascinating but 
unfortunate beings. Prejudice forbids matrimony, but uni- 
versal custom sanctions temporary connexions, to which a 
certain degree of respectability is allowed, on account of the 
peculiar situation of the parties. These attachments often 
continue for years — sometimes for life — and instances are 
not unfrequent of exemplary constancy and great propriety 
of deportment. 

What eloquent vituperations we should pour forth, if the 
contending claims of nature and pride produced such a tissue 
of contradictions in some other country, and not in our own ! 

There is another Massachusetts law, which an enlightened 
community would not probably suffer to be carried into exe- 
cution under any circumstances ; but it still remains to dis- 
grace the statutes of this Commonwealth. It is as follows : 

" No African or Negro, other than a subject of the Em- 
peror of Morocco, or a citizen of the United States, (proved 
so by a certificate of the Secretary of the State of which he 
is a citizen,) shall tarry within this Commonwealth longer 
than two months ; and on complaint a justice shall order 
him to depart in ten days ; and if he do not then, the justice 
may commit such African or Negro to the House of Cor- 
rection, there to be kept at hard labor ; and at the next term 
of the Court of Common Pleas, he shall be tried, and if con- 
victed of remaining as aforesaid, shall be whipped not exceed- 
ing ten lashes ; and if he or she shall not then depart, such 
process shall be repeated, and punishment inflicted, toties 
quoties." Stat. 1788, Ch. 54. 

17* 



198 PREJUDICES AGAINST PEOPLE OF COLOR. 

An honorable Haytian or Brazilian, who visited this coun- 
try for business or information, might come under this law, 
unless public opinion rendered it a mere dead letter. 

There is among the colored people an increasing desire 
for information, and laudable ambition to be respectable in 
manners and appearance. Are we not foolish as well as 
sinful, in trying to repress a tendency so salutary to them- 
selves, and so beneficial to the community ? Several individ- 
uals of this class are very desirous to have persons of their 
own color qualified to teach something more than mere 
reading and writing. But in the public schools, colored chil- 
dren are subject to many discouragements and difficulties ; and 
into the private schools they cannot gain admission. A very 
sensible and well-informed colored woman in a neighboring 
town, whose family have been brought up in a manner that 
excited universal remark and approbation, has been extremely 
desirous to obtain for her eldest daughter the advantages of 
a private school ; but she has been resolutely repulsed on 
account of her complexion. The girl is a very light mu- 
latto, with great modesty and propriety of manners ; perhaps 
no young person in the Commonwealth was less likely to 
have a bad influence on her associates. The clergyman 
respected the family, and he remonstrated with the instructer; 
but while the latter admitted the injustice of the thing, he 
excused himself by saying such a step would occasion the 
loss of all his white scholars. 

In a town adjoining Boston, a well behaved colored boy 
was kept out of the public school more than a year, by vote 
of the trustees. His mother, having some information her- 
self, knew the importance of knowledge, and was anxious to 
obtain it for her family. She wrote repeatedly and urgently ; 
and the schoolmaster himself told me that the correctness 
of her spelling, and the neatness of her hand-writing, formed 
a curious contrast with the notes he received from many 
white parents. At last, this spirited woman appeared before 
the committee, and reminded them that her husband, having 
for many years paid taxes as a citizen, had a right to the 
privileges of a citizen ; and if her claim were refused, or 
longer postponed, she declared her determination to seek 
justice from a higher source. The trustees were, of course, 
obliged to yield to the equality of the laws, with the best 
grace they could. The boy was admitted, and made good 
progress in his studies. Had his mother been too ignorant 



OUR DUTIES IN RELATION TO THIS SUBJECT. 199 

to know her rights, or too abject to demand them, the lad 
would have had a fair chance to get a living out of the State 
as the occupant of a workhouse, or penitentiary. 

The attempt to establish a school for African girls at 
Canterbury, Connecticut, has made too much noise to need 
a detailed account in this volume. I do not know the lady 
who first formed the project, but I am told that she is a 
benevolent and religious woman. It certainly is difficult to 
imagine any other motives than good ones, for an undertak- 
ing so arduous and unpopular. Yet had the Pope himself 
attempted to establish his supremacy over that Common- 
wealth, he coujd hardly have been repelled with more de- 
termined and angry resistance. Town-meetings were held, 
the records of which are not highly creditable to the parties 
concerned. Petitions were sent to the Legislature, beseech- 
ing that no African school might be allowed to admit indi- 
viduals not residing in the town where said school was es- 
tablished ; and strange to relate, this law, which makes it 
impossible to collect a sufficient number of pupils, was sanc- 
tioned by the State. A colored girl, who availed herself of 
this opportunity to gain instruction, was warned out of town, 
and fined for not complying ; and the instructress was im- 
prisoned for persevering in her benevolent plan. 

It was said, in excuse, that Canterbury would be inun- 
dated with vicious characters, who would corrupt the morals 
of the young men ; that such a school would break down 
the distinctions between black and white ; and that marriages 
between people of different colors would be the probable 
result. Yet they assumed the ground that colored people 
must always be an inferior and degraded class — that the 
prejudice against them must be eternal ; being deeply founded 
in the laws of God and nature. Finally, they endeavored 
to represent the school as one of the incendiary proceedings 
of the Anti-Slavery Society ; and they appealed to the Col- 
onization Society, as an aggrieved child is wont to appeal to 
its parent. 

The objection with regard to the introduction of vicious 
characters into a village, certainly has some force ; but are 
such persons likely to leave cities for a quiet country town, 
in search of moral and intellectual improvement ? Is it not 
obvious that the best portion of the colored class are the very 
ones to prize such an opportunity for instruction ? Grant 
that a large proportion of these unfortunate people are vicious 



200 PREJUDICES AGAINST PEOPLE OF COLOR. 

— is it not our duty, and of course our wisest policy, to try 
to make them otherwise ? And what will so effectually ele- 
vate their character and condition, as knowledge ? I beseech 
you, my countrymen, think of these things wisely, and in 
season. 

As for intermarriages, if there be such a repugnance be- 
tween the two races, founded in the laws of nature, methinks 
there is small reason to dread their frequency. 

The breaking down of distinctions in society, by means of 
extended information, is an objection which appropriately 
belongs to the Emperor of Austria, or the Sultan of Egypt. 

I do not know how the affair at Canterbury is generally 
considered i but I have heard individuals of all parties and 
all opinions speak of it — and never without merriment or 
indignation. Fifty years hence, the black laws of Connec- 
ticut will be a greater source of amusement to the antiquarian, 
than her famous blue laws. 

A similar, though less violent opposition arose in conse- 
quence of the attempt to establish a college for colored people 
at New-Haven. A young colored man, who tried to obtain 
education at the Wesleyan college in Middletown, was obliged 
to relinquish the attempt on account of the persecution of his 
fellow students. Some collegians from the South objected 
to a colored associate in their recitations ; and those from 
New-England promptly and zealously joined in the hue and 
cry. A small but firm party were in favor of giving the 
colored man a chance to pursue his studies without insult or 
interruption ; and I am told that this manly and disinterested 
band were all Southerners. As for those individuals, who 
exerted their influence to exclude an unoffending fellow-citi- 
zen from privileges which ought to be equally open to all, it 
is to be hoped that age will make them wiser — and that they 
will learn, before they die, to be ashamed of a step attended 
with more important results than usually belong to youthful 
follies. 

It happens that these experiments have all been made in 
Connecticut ; but it is no more than justice to that State to 
remark that a similar spirit would probably have been man- 
ifested in Massachusetts, under like circumstances. _ At our 
debating clubs and other places of public discussion, the 
demon of prejudice girds himself for the battle, the moment 
negro colleges and high schools are alluded to. Alas, while 
we carry on our lips that religion which teaches us to " love 



OUR DUTIES IN RELATION TO THIS SUBJECT. 201 

our neighbors as ourselves," how little do we cherish its 
blessed influence within our hearts ! How much republi- 
canism we have to speak of, and how little do we practise ! 

Let us seriously consider what injury a negro college could 
possibly do us. It is certainly a fair presumption that the 
scholars would be from the better portion of the colored 
population ; and it is an equally fair presumption that knowl- 
edge would improve their characters. There are already 
many hundreds of colored people in the city of Boston. In 
the street they generally appear neat and respectable ; and in 
our houses they do not " come between the wind and our 
nobility. " Would the addition of one or two hundred more 
even be perceived ? As for giving offence to the Southerners 
by allowing such establishments — they have no right to in- 
terfere with our internal concerns, any more than we have 
with theirs. Wny should they not give up slavery to please 
us, by the same rule that we must refrain from educating 
the negroes to please them ? If they are at liberty to do 
wrong, we certainly ought to be at liberty to do right. They 
may talk and publish as much about us as they please ; and 
we ask for no other influence over them. 

It is a fact not generally known that the brave Kosciusko 
left a fund for the establishment of a negro college in the 
United States. Little did he think he had been fighting for 
a people, who would not grant one rood of their vast territory 
for the benevolent purpose ! 

According to present appearances, a college for colored 
persons will be established in Canada; and thus by means 
of our foolish and wicked pride, the credit of this philanthropic 
enterprise will be transferred to our mother country. 

The preceding chapters show that it has been no un- 
common thing for colored men to be educated at English, 
German, Portuguese, and Spanish Universities. 

In Boston there is an Infant School, three Primary Schools, 
and a Grammar School. The two last are, I believe, sup- 
ported by the public ; and this fact is highly creditable. 

I was much pleased with the late resolution awarding 
Franklin medals to the colored pupils of the grammar school; 
and I was still more pleased with the laudable project, orig- 
inated by Josiah Holbrook, Esq., for the establishment of a 
colored Lyceum. Surely a better spirit is beginning to work 
in this cause ; and when once begun, the good sense and 
good feeling of the community will bid it go on and prosper. 



202 PREJUDICES AGAINST PEOPLE OF COLOR. 

How much this spirit will have to contend with is illustrated 
by the following fact. When President Jackson entered this 
city, the white children of all the schools were sent out in 
uniform, to do him honor. A member of the Committee pro- 
posed that the pupils of the African schools should be invited 
likewise ; but he was the only one who voted for it. He 
then proposed that the yeas and nays should be recorded ; 
upon which, most of the gentlemen walked off, to prevent 
the question from being taken. Perhaps they felt an awk- 
ward consciousness of the incongeniality of such proceedings 
with our republican institutions. By order of the Committee 
the vacation of the African schools did not commence until 
the day after the procession of the white pupils ; and a note 
to the instructor intimated that the pupils were not expected 
to appear on the Common. The reason g^ven was because 
" their numbers were so few ;" but in private conversation, 
fears were expressed lest their sable faces should give offence 
to our slaveholding President. In all probability the sight 
of the colored children would have been agreeable to Gen- 
eral Jackson, and seemed more like home, than any thing 
he witnessed. 

In the theatre, it is not possible for respectable colored 
people to obtain a decent seat. They must either be ex- 
eluded, or herd with the vicious. 

A fierce excitement prevailed, not long since, because a 
colored man had bought a pew in one of our churches. I 
heard a very kind-hearted and zealous democrat declare his 
opinion that " the fellow ought to be turned out by constables, 
if he dared to occupy the pew he had purchased." Even 
at the communion-table, the mockery of human pride is 
mingled with the worship of Jehovah. Again and again 
have I seen a solitary negro come up to the altar meekly and 
timidly, after all the white communicants had retired. One 
Episcopal clergyman of this city, forms an honorable excep- 
tion to this remark. When there is room at the altar, Mr. 

■ often makes a signal to the colored members of his 

church to kneel beside their white brethren ; and once, when 
two white infants and one colored one were to be baptized, 
and the parents of the latter bashfully lingered far behind 
the others, he silently rebuked the unchristian spirit of pride, 
by first administering the holy ordinance to the little dark- 
skinned child of God. 

An instance of prejudice lately occurred, which I should 



OUR DUTIES IN RELATION TO THIS SUBJECT. 203 

find it hard to believe, did I not positively know it to be a fact. 
A gallery pew was purchased in one of our churches for 
two hundred dollars. A few Sabbaths after, an address was 
delivered at that church, in favor of the Africans. Some 
colored people, who very naturally wished to hear the dis- 
course, went, into the gallery ; probably because they thought 
they should bo deemed less intrusive there than elsewhere. 
The man who had recently bought a pew. found it occupied 
by colored people, and indignantly retired with his family. 
The next day, he purchased a pew in another meeting-house, 
protesting that nothing would tempt him again to make use 
of seats, that had been occupied by negroes. 

A well known country representative, who makes a very 
loud noise about his democracy, once attended the Catholic 
church. A pious negro requested him to take off his hat, 
while he stood in the presence of the Virgin Mary. The 
white man rudely shoved him aside, saying, " You son of an 
Ethiopian, do you dare to speak to me !" I more than once 
heard the hero repeat this story ; and he seemed to take 
peculiar satisfaction in telling it. Had he been less ignorant, 
he would not have chosen " son of an Ethiopian" as an ignoble 
epithet ; to have called the African his own equal would 
have been abundantly more sarcastic. The same republi- 
can dismissed a strong, industrious colored man, who had 
been employed on the farm during his absence. " I am too 
great a democrat," quoth he, " to have any body in my house, 
who don't sit at my table ; and I'll be hanged, if I ever eat 
with the son of an Ethiopian." 

Men whose education leaves them less excuse for such 
illiberality, are yet vulgar enough to join in this ridiculous 
prejudice. The colored woman, whose daughter has been 
mentioned as excluded from a private school, was once smug- 
gled into a stage, upon the supposition that she was a white 
woman, with a sallow complexion. Her manners were 
modest and prepossessing, and the gentlemen were very 
polite to her. But when she stopped at her own door, and 
was handed out by her curly-headed husband, they were at 
once surprised and angry to find they had been riding with 
a mulatto — and had, in their ignorance, been really civil to 
her ! 

A worthy colored woman, belonging to an adjoining town, 
wished to come into Boston to attend upon a son, who was ill. 
She had a trunk with her, and was too feeble to walk. She 



204 PREJUDICES AGAINST PEOPLE OF COLOR. 

begged permission to ride in the stage. But the passengers 
with noble indignation, declared they would get out, if she 
were allowed to get in. After much entreaty, the driver 
suffered her to sit by him upon the box. When he entered 
the city, his comrades began to point and sneer. Not having 
sufficient moral courage to endure this, he left the poor wo- 
man, with her trunk, in the middle of the street, far from 
the place of her destination ; telling her, with an oath, that 
he would not carry her a step further. 

A friend of mine lately wished to have a colored girl 
admitted into the stage with her, to take care of her babe. 
The girl was very lightly tinged with the sable hue, had 
handsome Indian features, and very pleasing manners. It 
was, however, evident that she was not white ; and there- 
fore the passengers objected to her company. This of course, 
produced a good deal of inconvenience on one side, and mor- 
tification on the other. My friend repeated the circumstance 
to a lady, who, as the daughter and wife of a clergyman, 
might be supposed to have imbibed some liberality. The 
lady seemed to think the experiment was very preposterous; 
but when my friend alluded to the mixed parentage of the 
girl, she exclaimed, with generous enthusiasm, " Oh, that 
alters the case, Indians certainly have their rights." 

Every year a colored gentleman and scholar is becoming 
less and less of a rarity — thanks to the existence of the 
Haytian Republic, and the increasing liberality of the world ! 
Yet if a person of refinement from Hayti, Brazil, or other 
countries, which we deem less enlightened than our own, 
should visit us, the very boys of this republic would dog his 
footsteps with the vulgar outcry of " Nigger ! Nigger!" I 
have known this to be done, from no other provocation than 
the sight of a colored man with the dress and deportment 
of a gentleman. Were it not that republicanism, like Chris- 
tianity, is often perverted from its true spirit by the bad pas- 
sions of mankind, such things as these would make every 
honest mind disgusted with the very name of republics. 

I am acquainted with a gentleman from Brazil who is 
shrewd, enterprising, and respectable in character and man- 
ners ; yet he has experienced almost every species of indig- 
nity on account of his color. Not long since, it became 
necessary for him to visit the southern shores of Massachu- 
setts, to settle certain accounts connected with his business. 
His wife was in a feeble state of health, and the physicians 



OUR DUTIES IN RELATION TO THIS SUBJECT. 205 

had recommended a voyage. For this reason, he took pas- 
sage for her with himself in the steam-boat ; and the captain, 
as it appears, made no objection to a colored gentleman's 

money. After remaining on deck some time, Mrs. 

attempted to pass into the cabin ; but the captain prevented 
her ; saying, " You must go down forward." The Brazilian 
urged that he had paid the customary price, and therefore 
his wife and infant had a right to a place in the ladies' cabin. 
The captain answered, " Your wife a'n't a lady ; she is a 
nigger." The forward cabin was occupied by sailors ; was 
entirely without accommodations for women, and admitted 
the sea- water, so that a person could not sit in it comfortably 
without keeping the feet raised in a chair. The husband 
stated that his wife's health would not admit of such expo- 
sure ; to which the captain still replied, " I don't allow any 
niggers in my cabin." With natural and honest indignation, 
the Brazilian exclaimed, " You Americans talk about the 
Poles ! You are a great deal more Russian than the Rus- 
sians." The affair was concluded by placing the colored 
gentleman and his invalid wife on the shore, and leaving them 
to provide for themselves as they could. Had the cabin been 
full, there would have been some excuse ; but it was occu- 
pied only by two sailors' wives. The same individual sent 
for a relative in a distant town on account of illness in his 
family. After staying several weeks, it became necessary 
for her to return ; and he procured a seat for her in the 
stage. The same ridiculous scene occurred ; the passengers 
were afraid of losing their dignity by riding with a neat re- 
spectable person, whose face was darker than their own. No 
public vehicle could be obtained, by which a colored citizen 
could be conveyed to her home ; it therefore became abso- 
lutely necessary for the gentleman to leave his business and 
hire a chaise at great expense. Such proceedings are really 
inexcusable. No authority can be found for them in religion, 
reason, or the laws. 

The Bible informs us that "a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch 
of great authority under Candace, Queen of the Ethiopians, 
who had charge of all her treasure, came to Jerusalem to 
worship." Returning in his chariot, he read Esaias, the 
Prophet ; and at his request Philip went up into the chariot 
and sat with him, explaining the Scriptures. Where should 
we now find an apostle, who would ride in the same chariot 
with an Ethiopian ! 

18 



206 PREJUDICES AGAINST PEOPLE OF COLOR. 

Will any candid person tell me why respectable colored 
people should not be allowed to make use of public con- 
veyances, open to all who are able and willing to pay for 
the privilege? Those who enter a vessel, or a stage-coach, 
cannot expect to select their companions. If they can afford 
to take a carriage or boat for themselves, then, and then only, 
they have a right to be exclusive. I was lately talking with 
a young gentleman on this subject, who professed to have no 
prejudice against colored people, except so far as they were 
ignorant and vulgar ; but still he could not tolerate the idea 
of allowing them to enter stages and steam-boats. " Yet, 
vou allow the same privilege to vulgar and ignorant white 
men, without a murmur," I replied ; " Pray give a good 
republican reason why a respectable colored citizen should 
be less favored." For want of a better argument, he said — 
(pardon me, fastidious reader) — he implied that the presence 
of colored persons was less agreeable than Otto of Rose, or 
Eau de Cologne ; and this distinction, he urged was made 
by God himself. I answered, " Whoever takes his chance 
in a public vehicle, is liable to meet with uncleanly white 
passengers, whose breath may be redolent with the fumes of 
American cigars, or American gin. Neither of these arti- 
cles have a fragrance peculiarly agreeable to nerves of deli- 
cate organization. Allowing your argument double the 
weight it deserves, it is utter nonsense to pretend that the 
inconvenience in the case I have supposed is not infinitely 
greater. But what is more to the point, do you dine in a 
fashionable hotel, do you sail in a fashionable steam-boat, do 
you sup at a fashionable house, without having negro ser- 
vants behind your chair. Would they be any more disa- 
greeable, as passengers seated in the corner of a stage, or a 
steam-boat, than as waiters in such immediate attendance 
upon your person ?" 

Stage-drivers are very much perplexed when they attempt 
to vindicate the present tyrannical customs ; and they usually 
give up the point, by saying they themselves have no preju- 
dice against colored people — they are merely afraid of the 
public. But stage-drivers should remember that in a popular 
government, they, in common with every other citizen, form 
a part and portion of the dreaded public. 

The gold was never coined for which I would barter my 
individual freedom of acting and thinking upon any subject, 
or knowingly interfere with the rights of the meanest human 



OUR DUTIES IN RELATION TO THIS SUBJECT. 207 

being. The only true courage is that which impels us to do 
right without regard to consequences. To fear a populace 
is as servile as to fear an emperor. The only salutary 
restraint is the fear of doing wrong. 

Our representatives to Congress have repeatedly rode in 
a stage with colored servants at the request of their masters. 
Whether this is because New-Englanders are willing to do 
out of courtesy to a Southern gentleman, what they object 
to doing from justice to a colored citizen, — or whether those 
representatives, being educated men, were more than usually 
divested of this absurd prejudice, — I will not pretend to say. 

The state of public feeling not only makes it difficult for 
the Africans to obtain information, but it prevents them from 
making profitable use of what knowledge they have. A 
colored man, however intelligent, is not allowed to pursue 
any business more lucrative than that of a barber, a shoe- 
black, or a waiter. These, and all other employments, are 
truly respectable, whenever the duties connected with them 
ire faithfully performed ; but it is unjust that a man should, 
)n account of his complexion, be prevented from performing 
nore elevated uses in society. Every citizen ought to have 
x fair chance to try his fortune in any line of business, which 
he thinks he has ability to transact. Why should not colored 
men be employed in the manufactories of various kinds ? If 
their ignorance is an objection, let them be enlightened, as 
speedily as possible. If their moral character is not suffi- 
ciently pure, remove the pressure of public scorn, and thus 
supply them with motives for being respectable. All this 
can be done. It merely requires an earnest wish to over- 
come a prejudice, which has " grown with our growth and 
strengthened with our strength," but which is in fact opposed 
to the spirit of our religion, and contrary to the instinctive 
good feelings of our nature. When examined by the clear 
light of reason, it disappears. Prejudices of all kinds have 
their strongest holds in the minds of the vulgar and the 
ignorant. In a community so enlightened as our own, they 
must gradually melt away under the influence of public dis- 
cussion. There is no want of kind feelings and liberal sen- 
timents in the American people ; the simple fact is, they have 
not thought upon this subject. An active and enterprising 
community are not apt to concern themselves about laws and 
customs, which do not obviously interfere with their interests 
or convenience ; and various political and prudential motives 



208 PREJUDICES AGAINST PEOPLE OF COLOR. 

have combined to fetter free inquiry in this direction. Thus 
we have gone on, year after year, thoughtlessly sanctioning, 
by our silence and indifference, evils which our hearts and 
consciences are far enough from approving. 

It has been shown that no other people on earth indulge 
so strong a prejudice with regard to color, as we do. It is 
urged that negroes are civilly treated in England, because 
their numbers are so few. I could never discover any great 
force in this argument. Colored people are certainly not 
sufficiently rare in that country to be regarded as a great 
show, like a giraffe, or a Sandwich Island king ; and on the 
other hand, it would seem natural that those who were more 
accustomed to the sight of dark faces would find their aver- 
sion diminished, rather than increased. 

The absence of prejudice in the Portuguese and Spanish 
settlements is accounted for, by saying that the white people 
are very little superior to the negroes in knowledge and re- 
finement. But Doctor Walsh's book certainly gives us no 
reason to think meanly of the Brazilians ; and it has been 
my good fortune to be acquainted with many highly intelli- 
gent South Americans, who were divested of this prejudice, 
and much surprised at its existence here. 

If the South Americans are really in such a low state as 
the argument implies, it is a still greater disgrace to us to 
be outdone in liberality and consistent republicanism by men 
so much less enlightened than ourselves. 

Pride will doubtless hold out with strength and adroitness 
against the besiegers of its fortress ; but it is an obvious truth 
that the condition of the world is rapidly improving, and that 
our laws and customs must change with it. 

Neither ancient nor modern history furnishes a page more 
glorious than the last twenty years in England ; for at every 
step, free principles, after a long and arduous struggle, have 
conquered selfishness and tyranny. Almost all great evils 
are resisted by individuals who directly suffer injustice or 
inconvenience from them ; but it is a peculiar beauty of the 
abolition cause that its defenders enter the lists against wealth, 
and power, and talent, not to defend their own rights, but to 
protect weak and injured neighbors, who are not allowed to 
speak for themselves. 

Those who become interested in a cause laboring so 
heavily under the pressure of present unpopularity, must 
expect to be assailed by every form of bitterness and sophis- 



OUR DUTIES IN RELATION TO THIS SUBJECT. 209 

try. At times, discouraged and heart-sick, they will perhaps 
begin to doubt whether there are in reality any unalterable 
principles of right and wrong. But let them cast aside the 
fear of man, and keep their minds fixed on a few of the simple, 
unchangeable laws of God, and they will certainly receive 
strength to contend with the adversary. 

Paragraphs in the Southern papers already begin to imply 
that the United States will not look tamely on, while Eng- 
land emancipates her slaves ; and they inform us that the 
inspection of the naval stations has become a subject of great 
importance since the recent measures of the British Parlia- 
ment. A republic declaring war with a monarchy, because 
she gave freedom to her slaves, would indeed form a beau- 
tiful moral picture for the admiration of the world ! 

Mr. Garrison was the first person who dared to edit a 
newspaper, in which slavery was spoken of as altogether 
wicked and inexcusable. For this crime the Legislature of 
Georgia have offered five thousand dollars to any one who 
will " arrest and prosecute him to conviction under the laws 
of that State." An association of gentlemen in South Caro- 
lina have likewise offered a large reward for the same object. 
It is, to say the least, a very remarkable step for one State 
in this Union to promulgate such a law concerning a citizen 
of another State, merely for publishing his opinions boldly. 
The disciples of Fanny Wright promulgate the most zealous 
and virulent attacks upon Christianity, without any hindrance 
from the civil authorities ; and this is done upon the truly 
rational ground that individual freedom of opinion ought to 
be respected — that what is false cannot stand, and what is 
true cannot be overthrown. We leave Christianity to take 
care of itself; but slavery is a "delicate subject," — and 
whoever attacks that must be punished. Mr. Garrison is a 
disinterested, intelligent, and remarkably pure-minded man, 
whose only fault is that he cannot be moderate on a subject 
which it is exceedingly difficult for an honest mind to examine 
with calmness. Many who highly respect his character and 
motives, regret his tendency to use wholesale and unquali- 
fied expressions; but it is something to have the truth told, 
even if it be not in the mildest way. Where an evil is 
powerfully supported by the self-interest and prejudice of the 
community, none but an ardent individual will venture to 
meddle with it. Luther was deemed indiscreet even by those 
who liked him best; yet a more prudent man would never 



210 PREJUDICES AGAINST PEOPLE OF COLOR. 

have given an impetus sufficiently powerful to heave the great 
mass of corruption under which the church was buried. 
Mr. Garrison has certainly the merit of having first called 
public attention to a neglected and very important subject.* 
I believe whoever fairly and dispassionately examines the 
question, will be more than disposed to forgive the occasional 
faults of an ardent temperament, in consideration of the dif- 
ficulty of the undertaking, and the violence with which it 
has been opposed. 

The palliator of slavery assures the abolitionists that their 
benevolence is perfectly quixotic — that the negroes are happy 
and contented, and have no desire to change their lot. An 
answer to this may, as I have already said, be found in the 
Judicial Reports of slaveholding States, in the vigilance of 
their laws, in advertisements for runaway slaves, and in the 
details of their own newspapers. The West India planters 
make the same protestations concerning the happiness of 
their slaves ; yet the cruelties proved by undoubted and 
unanswerable testimony are enough to sicken the heart. It 
is said that slavery is a great deal worse in the West Indies 
than in the United States ; but I believe precisely the reverse 
of this proposition has been true within late years ; for the 
English government have been earnestly trying to atone for 
their guilt, by the introduction of laws expressly framed to 
guard the weak and defenceless. A gentleman who has 
been a great deal among the planters of both countries, and 
who is by no means favorable to anti-slavery, gives it as his 
decided opinion that the slaves are better off in the West 
Indies, than they are in the United States. It is true we 
hear a great deal more about West Indian cruelty than we 
do about our own. English books and periodicals are con- 
tinually full of the subject ; and even in the colonies, news- 
papers openly denounce the hateful system, and take every 
opportunity to prove the amount of wretchedness it produces. 
In this country, we have not, until very recently, dared to 
publish any thing upon the subject. Our books, our reviews, 
our newspapers, our almanacs, have all been silent, or exerted 
their influence on the wrong side. The negro's crimes are 

* This remark is not intended to indicate want of respect for the early 
exertions of the Friendb, in their numerous manumission societies ; or for 
the efforts of that staunch, fearless, self-sacrificing friend of freedom— 
Benjamin Lundy ; but Mr. Garrison was the first that boldly attacked 
slavery as a sin, and Colonization as its twin sister. 



OUR DUTIES IN RELATION TO THIS SUBJECT. 211 

repeated, but his sufferings are never told. Even in our 
geographies it is taught that the colored race must always be 
legraded. Now and then anecdotes of cruelties committed 
n the slaveholding States are told by individuals who wit- 
lessed them ; but they are almost always afraid to give their 
lames to the public, because the Southerners will call them 
' a disgrace to the soil," and the Northerners will echo the 
sentiment. The promptitude and earnestness with which New- 
England has aided the slaveholders in repressing all discus- 
sions which they were desirous to avoid, has called forth 
many expressions of gratitude in their public speeches, and 
private conversation ; and truly we have well earned Ran- 
dolph's favorite appellation, " the white slaves of the North," 
by our tameness and servility with regard to a subject where 
good feeling and good principle alike demand a firm and 
independent spirit. 

We are told that the Southerners will of themselves do 
away slavery, and they alone understand how to do it. But 
it is an obvious fact that all their measures have tended to 
perpetuate the system ; and even if we have the fullest faith 
that they mean to do their duty, the belief by no means ab- 
solves us from doing ours. The evil is gigantic ; and its 
removal requires every heart and head in the community. 

It is said that our sympathies ought to be given to the 
masters, who are abundantly more to be pitied than the 
slaves. If this be the case, the planters are singularly disin- 
terested not to change places with their bondmen. Our sym- 
pathies have been given to the masters — and to those masters 
who seemed most desirous to remain for ever in their pitiable 
condition. There are hearts at the South sincerely desirous 
of doing right in this cause ; but their generous impulses are 
checked by the laws of their respective States, and the strong 
disapprobation of their neighbors. I know a lady in Georgia 
who would, I believe, make any personal sacrifice to instruct 
her slaves, and give them freedom ; but if she were found 
guilty of teaching the alphabet, or manumitting her slaves, 
fines and imprisonment would be the consequence ; if she 
sold them, they would be likely to fall into hands less merciful 
than her own. Of such slave-owners we cannot speak with 
to much respect and tenderness. They are comparatively 
few in number, and stand in a most perplexing situation ; it 
is a duty to give all our sympathy to them. It is mere 
mockery to say, what is so often said, that the Southerners, 



212 PREJUDICES AGAINST PEOPLE OF COLOR. 

as a body, really wish to abolish slavery. If they wished 
it, they certainly would make the attempt. When the ma- 
jority heartily desire a change, it is effected, be the difficul- 
ties what they may. The Americans are peculiarly respon- 
sible for the example they give ; for in no other country 
does the unchecked voice of the people constitute the whole 
of government. 

We must not be induced to excuse slavery by the plausible 
argument that England introduced it among us. The wick- 
edness of beginning such a work unquestionably belongs to 
her ; the sin of continuing it is certainly our own. It is true 
that Virginia, while a province, did petition the British gov- 
ernment to check the introduction of slaves into the colonies; 
and their refusal to do so was afterward enumerated among 
the public reasons for separating from the mother country : 
but it is equally true that when we became independent, the 
Southern States stipulated that the slave-trade should not be 
abolished by law until 1808. 

The strongest and best reason that can be given for our 
supineness on the subject of slavery, is the fear of dissolving 
the Union. The Constitution of the United States demands 
our highest reverence. Those who approve, and those who 
disapprove of particular portions, are equally bound to yield 
implicit obedience to its authority. But we must not forget 
that the Constitution provides for any change that may be 
required for the general good. The great machine is con- 
structed with a safety-valve, by which any rapidly increasing 
evil may be expelled whenever the people desire it. 

If the Southern politicians are determined to make a Si- 
amese question of this also — if they insist that the Union 
shall not exist without slavery — it can only be said that they 
join two things, which have no affinity with each other, 
and which cannot permanently exist together. They chain 
the living and vigorous to the diseased and dying ; and the 
former will assuredly perish in the infected neighborhood. 

The universal introduction of free labor is the surest way 
to consolidate the Union, and enable us to live together in 
harmony and peace. If a history is ever written entitled 
"The Decay and Dissolution of the North American Republic," 
its author will distinctly trace our downfall to the existence 
of slavery among us. 

There is hardly any thing bad, in politics or "religion, that 
has not been sanctioned or tolerated by a suffering commu- 



OUR DUTIES TN RELATION TO THIS SUBJECT. 213 

nity, because certain powerful individuals were able to identify 
the evil with some other principle long consecrated to the 
hearts and consciences of men. 

Under all circumstances, there is but one honest course ; 
and that is to do right, and trust the consequences to Divine 
Providence. " Duties are ours ; events are God's." Policy, 
with all her cunning, can devise no rule so safe, salutary, 
and effective, as this simple maxim. 

We cannot too cautiously examine arguments and excuses 
brought forward by those whose interest or convenience is 
connected with keeping^ their fellow-creatures in a state of 
ignorance and brutality ; and such we shall find in abun- 
dance, at the North as well- as the South. I have heard the 
abolition of slavery condemned on the ground that New. 
England vessels would not be employed to export the pro. 
duce of the South, if they had free laborers of their own. 
This objection is so utterly bad in its spirit, that it hardly 
deserves an answer. Assuredly it is a righteous plan to 
retard the progress of liberal principles, and " keep human 
nature for ever in the stocks," that some individuals may 
make a few hundred dollars more per annum ! Besides, the 
experience of the world abundantly proves that all such 
forced expedients are unwise. The increased prosperity of 
one country, or of one section of a country, always contri- 
butes, in some form or other, to the prosperity of other states. 
To " love our neighbor as ourselves," is, after all, the 
shrewdest way of doing business. 

In England, the abolition of the traffic was long and stoutly 
resisted, in the same spirit, and by the same arguments, that 
characterize the defence of the system here ; but it would 
now be difficult to find a man so reckless, that he would not 
be ashamed of being called a slave-dealer. Public opinion 
has nearly conquered one evil, and if rightly directed, it will 
ultimately subdue the other. 

Is it asked what can be done? I answer, much, very 
much, can be effected, if each individual will try to deserve 
the commendation bestowed by our Saviour on the woman 
of old — " She hath done what she could." 

The Friends, — always remarkable for fearless obedience 
to the inward light of conscience, — early gave an example 
worthy of being followed. At their annual meeting in Penn- 
sylvania, in 1688, many individuals urged the incompatibility 
of slavery and Christianity ; and their zeal continued until, 



214 PREJUDICE AGAINST PEOPLE OF COLOR. 

in 1776, all Quakers who bought or sold a slave, or refused 
to emancipate those they already owned, were excluded from 
com-munion with the society. Had it not been for the early 
exertions of these excellent people, the fair and flourishing 
State of Pennsylvania might now, perchance, be withering 
under the effects of slavery. To this day, the Society of 
Friends, both in England and America, omit no opportunity, 
public or private, of discountenancing this bad system ; and 
the Methodists (at least in England) have earnestly labored 
in the same glorious cause. 

The famous Anthony Benezet, a Quaker in Philadelphia, 
has left us a noble example of what may be done for con- 
science' sake. Being a teacher, he took effectual care that 
his scholars should have ample knowledge and christian im- 
pressions concerning the nature of slavery ; he caused articles 
to be inserted in the almanacs likely to arrest public attention 
upon the subject ; he talked about it, and wrote letters about 
it ; he published and distributed tracts at his own expense ; 
if any person was going a journey, his first thought was how 
he could make him instrumental in favor of his benevolent 
purposes ; he addressed a petition to the Queen for the sup- 
pression of the slave-trade ; and another to the good Countess 
of Huntingdon, beseeching that the rice and indigo plantations 
belonging to the orphan-house, which she had endowed near 
Savannah, in Georgia, might not be cultivated by those who 
encouraged the slave-trade ; he took care to increase the 
comforts and elevate the character of the colored people 
within his influence ; he zealously promoted the establish- 
ment of an African school, and devoted much of the two 
last years of his life to personal attendance upon his pupils. 
By fifty years of constant industry he had amassed a small 
fortune : and this was left after the decease of his widow, to 
the support of the African school. 

Similar exertions, though on a less extensive scale, were 
made by the late excellent John Ken rick, of Newton, Mass. 
For more than thirty years the constant object of his thoughts, 
and the chief purpose of his life, was the abolition of slavery. 
His earnest conversation aroused many other minds to think 
and act upon the subject. He wrote letters, inserted articles 
in the newspapers, gave liberal donations, and circulated 
pamphlets at his own expense. 

Cowper contributed much to the cause when he wrote the 

Negro's Complaint," and thus excited the compassion of 



OUR DUTIES IN RELATION TO THIS SUBJECT. 215 

his nun ] etc ra« Wedgewood aided the work, when 

be caused cameos to be struck, representing a kneeling Af- 
rican in chains, and thus made even capricious fashion an 
avenue to the heart. Clarkson assisted by patiei 
gation of evidence ; and Fox and Wflberfbrce by eloquent 
speeches. Mungo Park gave his powerful influence by the 
kind and liberal manner in which he always represented the 
Africans. The Duchess of Devonshire wrote verses and 
caused them to be set to music ; and wherever those lines 
were sung, some hearts were touched in favor of tl 

:. This fascinating woman made even her far-famed 
beauty serve in the cause of benevolence. Fox was returned 
for Parliament through her influence, and she is said to have 
procured more than one vote, by allowing the yeomanry of 
England to kiss her beautiful cheek. 

All are not able to do so much as Anthony Benezet and 
John Ken rick have done; but we can all do something. 
We can speak kindly and respectfully of colored people upon 
all occasions.; we can repeat to our children such traits as 
are honorable in their character and history ; we can avoid 
making odious caricatures of negroes ; we can teach boys 
that it is unmanly and contemptible to insult an unfortunate 
class of people by the vulgar outcry of ;; Nigger^ ! — Ni . 
Even Mahmoud of Turkey rivals us in liberality — for he 
long ago ordered a fine to be levied upon those who called 
a Christian a dog ; and in his dominions the vrejudi.ee is so 
great that a Christian must be a degraded being. A resi- 
dence- in Turkey might be profitable to those Christians who 
patronize the eternity of prejudice ; it would afford an op- 
portunity of testing the goodness of the rule, by showing how 
it works both ways. 

If we are not able to contribute to African schools, or do 
not choose to do so, we can at least refrain from opposing 
them. If it be disagreeable to allow colored people the same 
rights and privileges as other citizens, we can do with our 
prejudice, what most of us often do with better feeling — we 
can conceal it. 

Our almanacs and newspapers can fairly show both sides 
of the question ; and if they lean to either party, let it not 
be to the strongest. Our preachers can speak of slavery, as 
they do of other evils. Our poets can find in this subject 
abundant room for sentiment and pathos. Our orators (pro- 



216 OUR DUTIES IN RELATION TO THIS SUBJECT* 

vided they do not want office) may venture an allusio*. te 
onr m-" glorious institutions." 

The union of individual influence produces a vast amount 
of moral force, which is not the less powerful because it is 
often unperceived. A mere change in the direction of our 
efforts, without any increased exertion, would in the course 
of a few years, produce an entire revolution of public feeling. 
This slow but sure way of doing good is almost the only 
means by which benevolence can effect its purpose. 

Sixty thousands petitions have been addressed to the Eng- 
lish parliament on the subject of slavery, and a large number 
of them were signed by women. The same steps here would 
be, with one exception, useless and injudicious ; because the 
general government has no control over the legislatures of 
individual States. But the District of Columbia forms an 
exception to this rule. There the United States have power 
to abolish slavery ; and it is the duty of the citizens to peti- 
tion year after year, until a reformation is effected. But 
who will present remonstrances against slavery 1 The Hon. 
John Q. Adams was intrusted with fifteen petitions for the 
abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia ; yet clearly 
as that gentleman sees and defines the pernicious effects of 
the system, he offered the petitions only to protest against 
them! Another petition to the same effect, intrusted to 
another Massachusetts representative, was never noticed at 
all. "Brutus is an honorable man: — So are they all — all 
honorable men." Nevertheless, there is, in this popular 
government, a subject on which it is impossible for the people 
to make themselves heard. 

By publishing this book I have put my mite into the treasury. 
The expectation of displeasing all cl-asses has not been un- 
accompanied with pain. But it has been strongly impressed 
upon my mind that it was a duty to fulfil this task ; and worldly 
considerations should never stifle the voice of conscience. 



THE END. 



